The Significance of Animal Metaphors: Émile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin and Patrick Suskind’s Perfume: The story of a murderer

Abstract

In philosophy, the concept of animalism is about personal identity which explains that humans are animals by nature as they succumb to their instincts. This research aims to present the significance of animal metaphors depicted in 19th century French literature and in 20th century German literature by examining the protagonists: Thérèse in the French novel of Émile Zola‘s Thérèse Raquin (1867) and Grenouille of John E Woods‘s English translation of the German novel Perfume: The story of a murderer (1985) by Patrick Suskind. This paper argues whether Thérèse and Grenouille are presented as animals. It explores whether animal metaphors that are associated with the protagonists by the two authors depict a lack of spirituality and intellectuality. Specifically, by comparing the animalistic traits such as the internal instincts of lust, violence and aggression of the protagonists. A qualitative analysis of data is done by using comparative methodology. This study compares the protagonists of Zola‘s and Suskind‘s novels to animals. In the preface to the second edition of Thérèse Raquin Zola states that his characters are human animals dominated by their instincts as they are steered into every action of their lives involuntarily. In Perfume, Suskind introduces Grenouille as "a strange, cold creature‖ and ―a hostile animal‖, as the narrator questions ―were he not a man by nature prudent" (p. 17). The key finding of this research reveals that the animal metaphors are used by Zola and Suskind to signify the moral degradation of the protagonists.