Taillade-Espinasse – AKA the Marquis.

He is an ignorant scientist, whose bad qualities are only visible when the readers are aware that his theory is greatly flawed. In a way he can be considered as a 'joke' character, and we are supposed to laugh at his ignorance. He is blinded by his ambition to prove his theory and overlooks the possibility that Grenouille's rapid recovery was due to ulterior supernatural reasons (i.e. Grenouille isn't normal). The Marquis even considers Grenouille's resistance towards the scent of violets as further proof of his theory, when in fact just that Grenouille wants an excuse to make his own perfume.

His significance in the story is his influence on Grenouille, transforming him from a monster that lived in a cave for 7 years into a respectable-looking gentleman. Although the purpose of helping Grenouille was an opportunity to prove his theory of fluidum letale, the end effect was that Grenouille could travel looking like a real journeyman perfumer.

He also represents the new age of the Enlightenment era, where people begin to value science as much if not more than religion. He is a contrast to characters like the wet nurse Jeanne Bussie and Father Terrior, who are devout Catholics. He strictly believes that “life could develop only at a certain distance from the earth, since the earth itself constantly emits a corrupting gas, a so-called fluidum letale, which lames vital energies and sooner or later totally extinguishes them. All living creatures therefore endeavor to distance themselves from the earth by growing – that is, they grow away from it and not, for instance, into it; which is why their most valuable parts are lifted heavenwards.”

By Nathan Hsu

Grimal

- Through Genouille’s thought of Grimal ‘Grenouille knew that this man was capable of thrashing him to death for the least infraction’ and through this we can see how strong Grimal was. 

-Grenouille worked for fourteen-sixteen hours in summer and eight hours in winter. He had to scrape the meat from bestially stinking hides, watered them down, dehaired them, limed,bated, and fulled them, rubbed them down with pickling dung etc. The work Grenouille had to do was disgusting. 

-After working a year of an existence more animal than a human he contracted Anthrax.

-Grimal had already written him off and finding a replacement because Grenouille had the disease anthrax.

-After Grenouille survived the illness, Grimal not longer kept him as an animal but like a house pet.

-When Grenouille was twelve, Grimal gave him half a day off on Sunday and when he was thirteen he was allowed to go out on weekend evenings for an hour after work to do whatever he liked.

 Michelle

Madame Gaillard

-She does not have the sense of smell because when she was a child, her father had struck her across the forehead with a poker, just above the base of the nose. She had also lost every sense of human warmth and emotions. Because of this, she showed no preference for any one of the children entrusted to her nor discriminated against any of them.

- The business of the orphanage had no value to her but she needed the money to buy an annuity so she could afford to die at home.

-Madame Gaillard noticed Grenouille had certain abilities that were highly unusual.

-Madame Gaillard thought she had discovered Grenouille's abilities to see though paper, cloth, wood without entering doors. 

-She got rid of Grenouille because she knew that people with second sight bring misfortune and and death with them which made her nervous so she sent him to the tanners where she thinks that he won’t be able to survive.

-Madame Gaillard lived till very old.

-By 1797 She had lost her entire fortune and only around ten- twenty years later did death arrive where she contracted cancer and she died and they carted her off to Hotel-Dieu.

 Michelle 

Baldini (ch. 9-14)

Functions of Baldini:

• Baldini is one of the components that is required to create Grenouille's ultimate perfume as he can gain knowledge about perfume making from Baldini.
• Baldini is important because it leads Grenouille to Grasse.
  
• Unlike Grenouille, Baldini believes in God. (the word 'God' is mentioned whenever Baldini is mentioned in the story.) During the age of enlightenment, people believe that reasons and science are more important than religion and tradition. The power of religion is shrinking because people urge for scientific evidence in everything. Therefore, Baldini's strong belief in God and religion suggests that he is unable to breakaway from the old mindset to keep up with the new conceptions of the society.
• His character contrasts with Grenouille in terms of a creator. Grenouille is an inventor in the sense that he strives for knowledge to create something new. Unlike Grenouille who comes up with hundreds of new perfumes, Baldini chooses to 'copy' Pelissier's creations and regenerates what others have done. Thus, he is not an inventor like Grenouille.
• Baldini is a perfumer who only produces 'traditional scents'. The modifier 'traditional' holds a connotation of old and reinforces the idea that he is not a creator.
  
• Baldini states that 'he [doesn't] want to be an inventor'. He is slowly left behind by the society not only because of his inability to move forward, but also his reluctance to change.
• The repetition of the word 'never' in Chapter 11 emphasise his unwillingness to change. On top of that, it holds a negative connotation.
  

Zoe