Analyzing Evil: Dr. Hannibal Lecter - Двуязычные субтитры
Hello everyone, and welcome to the 21st episode of Analyzing Evil, featuring the off-requested Dr.
Hannibal Lecter.
In this video,
I'll be covering Hannibal as he appears in the novels by Thomas Harris,
as well as the films featuring Anthony Hopkins, with Gaspar O'Lill, and Aaron Thomas playing the young Hannibal in Hannibal Rising.
We get a line from Dr.
Lechter in the Silence of the Lambs,
where he states that nothing happened to make him the way he is,
but that notion, unfortunately or unfortunately, is not the case for the character.
I know that some of you watching this video may loathe parts of the backstory Harris created for his character,
but I cannot ignore the canonical and intended narrative of a character as laid out by his creator,
and this video will go into every aspect of Hannibal that was given to us by Thomas Harris.
I also understand that the only reason Thomas Harris wrote Handel rising in the first place
Dino de Laurentiis told Harris he would collaborate with another writer to write a back story for Lecter if he didn't.
Nonetheless, the story is from Harris and is thus canon, to simplify things and to give us a solid structure to transition through.
This video will contain seven sections of varying length.
First, I'll be providing a summary of information regarding Elector's backstory to those who
were either unaware of it, or who need to refresh their memory on the subject.
Second, I'll be delving into Elector's relationships with the people closest to him, as well as those few who he encountered that he didn't murder.
Third will be a breakdown of the talents and skills he employs throughout the series, as well as his appearance and mannerisms.
The section will be an overview of his personality and psyche.
In the fifth section,
we'll be delving into the many vices the doctor has,
his philosophies on life, and his beliefs, to see how they factor into the lifestyle he lives, as well as the crimes he commits.
In section 6, we'll classify his murders and crimes by motive, and go through some of the methods he employs.
everything we discussed in the previous sections,
tie into his crimes, and we'll finish everything off in section 7, where I'll give you a summary of everything we've learned.
Having at that point, explore every aspect of his character, and we'll see if it's possible to understand just exactly who, and what, Dr.
Hannibal Lecter is.
Before we get into the first section,
I'd like to address the fact that a lot of real people and events are referenced in the doctor's story and family history.
and Thomas Harris did take inspiration from real world serial killers in fleshing out Hannibal's character and backstory.
Namely, the serial killer, Dr.
Alfredo Bayet Trevino,
whom he met during a visit to a Mexican prison,
the unconfirmed story of the brother of infamous Soviet serial killer,
Andrei Chikitilo,
being kidnapped and eaten by neighbors, and Pietro Paciani, the real Il Mostro, the monster of Florence, whose trial Harris was seen taking notes at.
It's also speculated by Charlotte Gregg,
author of a book called Evil Serial Killers, that lecture may have in part also been based on the American serial killer, Albert Fish.
locations, Lechter and his family are entirely fictional and there is no basis for Lechter family in reality.
Now, we have a lot to cover in this video, so without further ado, let's begin.
Hannibal Lechter, eighth of his name, was born in 1933 into a wealthy family of Lithuanian aristocrats.
headed by his father,
known to us as Count Lector,
and his wife,
Madam Simeneta Sforza Lector,
an Italian noblewoman of Milanese descent,
hailing from the Visconti and Sforza families,
two families which ruled Milan one after the other between the 13th and 16th centuries, their rule spanning a collective 255 years.
Between the two,
notable ancestors,
a few of which can be confirmed,
those being the notable members of the Visconti and Sforza families,
and his namesake, Hannibal the Grim, who built the family's castle after playing a decisive role at the Battle of Zalgyris.
Or as it's also called, the Battle of Groenwald, against the Teutonic Order in 1410.
Hannibal Grim used the soldiers he captured from the battle as his labor force to build the castle,
but later released them from their bondage, the fulfillment of a promise he had made to them upon their capture.
From of family records,
Hannibal suspected he was also related to a man named Juliano Bevisangay,
Bevisangay, meaning blood drinker and Italian, who in the novel, ruthless and feared individual who lived in Tuscany during the 12th century, though this
man is entirely fictional.
As can find no real world basis for him,
Hannibal suspected that through him, he was also related to Nicolo Machiavelli, who was suspected to have been of Tuscany lineage.
Needless to say, Hannibal has a storied lineage, and as a result, a fortunate upbringing inside the walls.
Castle Lecter, having all the resources available to a boy of his status at his disposal.
For eight years, Hannibal would live in this castle with his family, prospering under the care of his household servants.
In his sixth year, he would at first scorn, but then welcome into the world, his sister Misha.
who he came to love dearly,
all was well in Hannibal's life,
until June 23 of 1941,
when his family evacuated Lecter Castle in fear of the imminent German invasion that was sweeping its way through Eastern Europe.
Hannibal and his family fled to the safety of their hunting lodge deep within the Lithuanian forest,
where they survived for the three long years of the German occupation of Lithuania.
However, as the Red Army was making its way across Eastern Europe.
A tank crew happened to stop at the lodge for water.
A German pilot that may have been tailing the tank,
caught the tank in the lodge in his sights,
and proceeded to open fire upon the tank,
losing the fight in the process,
and crash landing directly into the tank, causing an explosion that took the lives of Hannibal's family and everyone else in his house.
household.
Save for Misha.
Rendered orphans, Hannibal and Misha were left to fend for themselves during the harsh Lithuanian winter.
And, to further add to their misery, they were eventually found by Grutas and his crew.
In order to survive,
Grutas and his friends eventually kill and devour Hannibal's sister Misha, making a broth from her remains and feeding it to Hannibal.
This event found its way into Hannibal's memory palace as a dark shed at the edges of its grounds.
One where he could not tread, a memory repressed by his mind due to the horrible trauma it caused.
It was only later in his life,
during his time in Paris,
that, through the influence of drugs, he would remember what happened to his sister, a memory that would have an
effect on multiple avenues in his life, which we'll be exploring in the next section of this video.
After the lodge is destroyed and his captors have fled,
young Hannibal wanders into the Lithuanian wilderness with a chain around his neck until he stumbles upon a Soviet tank crew,
who take him back to Lecter Castle, which has now been converted into an orphanage.
Hannibal, after enduring the trauma of the last few months, would not speak again for
over two years,
and it was at this orphanage that he first began to show some semblance of martial skill when retaliating against the other boys who buoyed him,
while also showing a softer side towards the younger children of the orphanage, harkening back to his relationship with his sister.
In the film,
Hannibal eventually escapes the orphanage,
but in In book, he's taken to France, by his uncle, the painter Robert Lechter, where his wife Lady Murasaki waited at their estate.
Hannibal would flourish here,
learning new and refining existing skills during his time studying in medical school and under the care of his aunt and uncle.
Hannibal at this time would go on a journey towards rediscovering the tragedy that be felt Misha,
and this is as far as we'll go for now for Hannibal's backstory.
I've left out quite a lot of important events that occurred during these years,
but we'll soon be exploring those key elements in other sections of this video.
So far,
we've touched on three key things, Hannibal's birth into an aristocratic family, his attachment to his sister, and a mention of his memory palace.
The first, his birth into an aristocratic family, is a window into the development of Hannibal's high-class taste.
Being into a privileged family, and then subsequently raised in another privileged household, explains how Hannibal grew to develop such refined tastes in all things.
However, he's also had his share of hardship.
But these events didn't seem to humble him in any way,
and his taste for the luxurious, and the taboo only grew as time went on.
I made small mention of his memory palace,
which isn't something present in the films, but something prevalent in the novels, and we'll be covering it more in a later section.
Now that we've given ourselves a refresher on his background, let's move on to section 2.
In this section,
we'll be covering each of Lecter's important relationships and their positive or negative effect on him,
as well as the lasting impact they had on him.
We won't be going over characters that were involved in his crimes, as they'll be addressed in Section 6.
This includes Will Graham, Dr.
Chilton, Francis Dollaide, James and mason verger.
Let's begin with Hannibal's parents.
Hannibal to have a loving relationship with both his father, Count Lector, and his mother, Madame Simonetta, remembering them fondly well into his teenage years.
Though it would seem he had more of an attachment to his mother than his father, he still remembered him well.
But cited that he was less warm and more guarded than his uncle Robert.
He seemed to hold his mother in high regard,
some of the happiest memories of his childhood involving her,
and in particular,
her room ended since, of which he remarked to Jakov before their flight from Castle Lecter, that it was the most beautiful room he knew.
His exposure to their elegance and luxury would have an influence on the young Lecter's development,
being the beginning of his hunger for only the best in life.
But, unless you count this as a partially negative influence, it's easy for us to say that Hannibal's
relationship with his parents was positive, and his parents had no negative impact on his development.
In this way,
they had a lasting effect on Hannibal,
as for the remainder of his life, he would keep to the lifestyle that he was brought up in.
Hannibal's relationship with his parents ends upon their death.
death, which had a lasting effect on him.
As along with his dreams of Misha, he would frequently dream of the day they died.
Next we have Misha,
Hannibal's beloved younger sister,
whom he would grow to share an intense bond with, and care for like no other he had known at that time in his life.
Misha and Hannibal were constant companions, and Hannibal did his best to please and cater to her every whim.
He would blow soap bubbles for her through her bracelet when she was bathing.
Block eggplants for her to play with, the deep purple being her favorite color, and sing songs with her.
This attachment to Misha and her subsequent death Death had a deep impact on the young Hannibal,
and any inkling of Hannibal leading a normal life.
Died the same day as his sister,
suffice to say that Hannibal's relationship with Misha was one of the most impactful,
loving relationships of his childhood, and would have a lasting effect on him as he grew older.
It's important that we also mention Mr.
Yakov, Hannibal's tutor at Castle Lecter.
of, Hannibal would learn much, including what he referred to as the keenest single pleasure of his childhood.
That being,
his understanding of a non-mathematical proof of the Pythagorean Theorem,
presented to him by Yakov through tiles in the sand, stating that the rush of understanding he felt felt like being long.
Not only would his tutor further his education,
but he would also present the young Hannibal with two concepts, both of which would become instrumental in Hannibal's success throughout his lifetime.
The first was a response Yakov made to Hannibal when he asked him if he was worth his time.
Yakov responded to Hannibal, and I quote, "'Every person is worth your time, Hannibal.
If at first appearance a person seems dull, then look harder.
Look into it.
Hannibal would display this interest in nearly every person he encountered for the remainder of his life.
of the people he encountered, probing them with questions and assumptions as he strived to learn the inner workings of a person's soul.
The second concept is the idea of a memory palace, presented to us first in the novel Hannibal.
A memory palace is a place in the mind of an individual constructed to organize various thoughts and sections.
In this case, rooms within a palace in your mind.
Hannibal is gifted with a near photographic memory,
and this, perhaps the greatest gift given to him by his tutor would be where Hannibal would archive every experience, every taste, every smell.
he ever encountered.
This gives him the ability to quickly and easily access any information about any manner of subject,
as well as giving him the ability to endlessly entertain himself in times of both distress and boredom.
Next the line is Hannibal's uncle, Robert Lechter, and his aunt, Lady Murasaki.
Robert doesn't make an appearance in the film, cited as being dead upon Hannibal's arrival at his home.
But in the novel, Hannibal Robert is the one who comes to collect Hannibal from Lecter Castle after the war.
Hannibal would share a tender moment with his uncle Robert,
which can be found in Hannibal Rising in chapter 18,
whereas uncle explains to Hannibal
that their family is somewhat unusual and proceeds to show him a spot in his studio that he set aside especially for Hannibal.
While this relationship was warm and caring,
Hannibal find himself drawn to his aunt more so than his uncle,
perhaps out of fond memories for his mother and sister,
a desire to have a replacement for them,
the definite attraction he felt to his aunt,
or all three,
Hannibal would fall in love with his aunt over the time he knew her, experiencing feelings he had never felt before meeting her.
Lady would be his frequent confidant, inspiration, and guardian.
Having a lasting effect on Hannibal throughout his entire life,
helping to shape him into the man he would become, and affecting his views and attachment towards a certain woman later in his life.
Just as his mother and sister did,
as were a positive or negative impact, I'd have to say that much like Misha, Lady had both a positive and negative impact on Hannibal.
Being that he learned a great deal from her, but he also suffered due to his attachment to her.
It's interesting to note that the first three most impactful relationships of his life,
other than his tutor Yakov,
were all women,
and as Hannibal matured,
it seems he would keep this preference towards women, with a sort of antagonistic attitude with much of the men we see him encountering.
Next is a rather minor character in Hannibal's life, but impactful nonetheless, Margot Verger.
Margot wasn't featured in the film, but in the Hannibal novel, she is one of the driving forces behind Hannibal's maiming of Mason Verger.
Margot was a patient of Hannibal's.
Just as Mason was,
when she divulged to Hannibal all the terrible abuse she had suffered in her life at the hands of Mason,
Hannibal suggested to her that she kill him.
His knowledge of her abuse, coupled with knowledge of Mason's other atrocities, him, is what drove Hannibal to attempt to rid society of Mason.
It's also possible that Hannibal's soft spot for children factored into this as well.
When he's in Mason's clutches at the end of the novel,
he even speaks to Margot in a friendly way, and even tries to help her in getting some of Mason's semen to inseminate her wife.
Call it what you will, positive or negative, but Margot and her story certainly had an impact on Hannibal.
The last two characters we'll talk about in this section had quite the relationship with Hannibal.
Barney was Hannibal's caretaker for six out of the eight years he was locked in the asylum.
Barney was always courteous with Hannibal,
and took care of him to the best of his abilities, and with what limitations he had to follow regarding the doctrine.
his care.
Barney and Hannibal would have long talks during the nights of his incarceration, about all manner of subjects.
Hannibal respected Barney for not only his courtesy and manners, but for the conversations they had, and for his desire to learn.
Above all else, Barney treated Hannibal like a human, and not as a subject to be researched, or a monster to be feared.
And I think it would be true enough to say that the relationship Hannibal and Barney shared was that of friendship,
a relationship not otherwise seen between Dr.
Lecter and other people throughout the series, and they both benefited from Barney and what he learned from Dr.
Lecter, and Dr.
Lecter from the privilege of civilized company during his confinement.
And at last,
we have the most impactful relationship Hannibal with another person besides his sister,
Clarice Starling, initially interested in Starling, in the way a man like Dr.
Lecter becomes interested in another person.
Dr.
Lecter uses Starling for his own amusement,
satisfy his desire for towing with people,
and He initially mocks her appearance,
justizes her about her background,
and muses that she's only been sent to him to serve as a pretty piece of bait and luring him to cooperate.
But over time, he becomes genuinely interested in her, in her independence, potential.
intelligence, resourcefulness, and her beauty.
This infatuation,
and obsession with Clarisse culminates in Hannibal wishing to have Clarisse take the place of his sister Misha,
to brainwash her, and to becoming his sister.
In the film Hannibal,
this doesn't happen at all,
and it's clear here that Hannibal desires to take her as his lover,
eventually resulting in Hannibal losing a hand in his attempt to escape capture from the police, after she rebuffs his advances.
But in the novel,
level, Hannibal Clarice with an unknown concoction of drugs, and puts her in a hypnotic state that has her revealing her innermost self.
Here she takes joy in the mutilation of Krendler, and partakes gladly in the dinner Hannibal prepares for them.
She ends up convincing him to abandon his hopes for Misha's return, and instead convinces him to take her.
They end up living what appears to be a happy life in Argentina, living the high life together.
He finds in Clarice what he's been searching for since the death of his mother and sister,
which he attempted to find in Lady Murasaki, a release from his pain, and a replacement for the love he lost.
Section 3.
Let's start this section off by covering one of the most crucial, and notable things about Hannibal.
his intellect.
From early on in his childhood, Hannibal was noted to have been an exceptionally intelligent individual.
His nanny thought that the young Hannibal could always read,
as at the age of two he would follow the words as she read to him.
Later, finding him on his own, pressing his forehead into the books, a quirk of his he would
use the seemingly absorb information, and reading aloud from the books in her own accent.
His father, provided for his young son, dictionaries in English, German, and Lithuanian, which Hannibal undoubtedly spent hours pouring over.
At six years old, he was reading through Euclid's elements, a mathematical treatise spread among thirteen volumes.
items.
Containing illustrations, that Hannibal would again put his forehead against.
Hannibal's intellect would continue to grow,
taking it upon himself to take measurement of his castle's towers, using its shadows, a principle he took from Euclid.
After his escape from Lithuania, Hannibal would go on to learn from varied and cultured sources.
Hannibal is intelligent to the point that any and every concept is easily understood by him.
And though he has his areas of expertise and his areas of base understanding,
he's essentially a jack of all trades when it comes to studying any subject you can think of.
Three things are in tandem with Hannibal's intellect, his idetic memory, or as it's more commonly known, photographic memory, his incredible perception, and his ingenuity.
While it could In other the only that a person might have his firm grasp on their memories as Hannibal does without a photographic memory.
But certainly be hard-pressed to find someone who's capable of recalling even half the amount of information Hannibal has stored within his memory palace.
This memory palace,
and its use,
also classifies Hannibal as a nematist,
and mnemonics is an to partake in if they wish to improve their memory,
but a photographic memory, coupled with them in his practices, gives Hannibal an unimaginable source of memory.
And the amount of information he contains within his own mind is staggering, to say the least.
With the ability to store even the tiniest details of a person or place in his mind,
and without this natural talent in a photographic memory.
and his practice skill as aneminist, Hannibal wouldn't be able to perform the incredible intellectual feats he displays throughout the series.
His perception into the minds and hearts of people is chilling,
as Hannibal is not only able to surmise the background and mind of an individual from a few key indicators,
like with a person and read their emotions,
understanding their thought process, weaknesses, and so strengths to take advantage of them and further his own ends.
This doesn't only apply to people, however, and can come up with intricate plans and plots with access to only minimal resources.
Seeing the future, so to speak, such as when he hopes to get Will Graham murdered by Francis Dallerheim by calling into Dr.
Blum's office in Red Dragon, or when he's given the opportunity to take Dr.
Chilton's pen, planning out well in advance his chance at escape from the authorities.
All of these intellectual traits make him a prodigy and a genius, with an intellect and hypersensitivity rarely fail.
and it's this intellect,
this higher thirst for knowledge, that will be one of the many driving forces that cause Hannibal to gravitate towards the Forbidden.
Other natural talents Hannibal is known for,
are his enhanced senses and his Hannibal is gifted with a natural strength that is described as being comparable to an aunt's,
which is an over-exaggeration.
As if that were the case,
he would have no problem in escaping anyone or anything in his path, but he is exceptionally strong, especially for a man of his stature.
His senses are heightened and refined beyond anything typically capable of a human being,
except those who have certain senses attuned to compensate for lack of another, such as in the blind or deaf.
He can smell even the slightest sense on a person,
ingredients of perfumes,
lotions, and foods through scent alone, and to recognize the many complex scents coming off of a person, storing their scent away in his memory palace to
easily identify them later.
His palate coincides with his sense of smell, and Hannibal had an appreciation for the culinary arts.
ever searching for new and divine cuisine to expand his already vast sense of taste.
His hearing was such that he could pick out the flute of Benjamin Raspel,
playing poorly in the Baltimore Orchestra, and his eyes were able to store an accurate picture of everything he ever saw into his memory palace.
From the shoes of person war, to the finer details of the buildings in Florence, Hannibal sees everything.
And nothing goes unnoticed beneath his penetrating gaze.
Last, of course, is his sense of touch, to which he was highly attuned, frequently
the complexities of an object and appreciating the slightest details of even the most mundane things.
Annabel's appearance and mannerisms also coincide with the traits we've just discussed.
He's live, short of stature, and and sinewy in his strength.
His maroon eyes,
which he inherited from his mother,
are flecked with red and shimmer in and he has tight, slicked-back black hair that begins with a widow's beak.
To add effect to the character's person,
Anthony Hopkins chose to blink seldomly, and while his eyes weren't that strange maroon color, it certainly added to the intensity of Dr.
Lechter.
He's said to have small white teeth and a distinctively red small tongue that he enjoys poking out from between his teeth.
His voice is described as cultured by Clarice in the Silence of the Lambs, and in the films, he speaks with an air of elegance.
Though absent in the films, in the books, Plus, Hannibal has a perfectly replicated middle finger on his left hand, known as mid-ray polydactyly.
Hannibal moves with grace and respect.
Ever in the way he addresses people,
and in the way he holds himself, putting on a straight jacket as if it were dinner clothes, and never airing from courtesy when speaking.
He's also described many times throughout the series as being unnatural.
as if he truly were planning each movement before moving even an eyebrow muscle.
In short,
Hannibal's appearance is that of someone who is in total control of every facet of their body,
who takes great care in every movement they make, and every word they speak, a body that deceives and disarms a person.
His clothes,
when not in an asylum, or on the run, are expertly tailored and fitting, giving him the heir of a gentleman of the highest caliber.
In my view,
the best way to describe Hannibal's strength,
senses, and mannerisms is to compare them to that of a feline, and if I had to pick one, I'd pick a leopard who is lieth and strong with
the enhanced senses that Hannibal had.
Overall, I'd describe Hannibal's appearance in mannerisms as unnerving and strange, yet charming
and docile to those who don't pay close attention, with elegance and sophistication in every movement he makes.
Section Personality Psyche.
As far as personality goes, Hannibal is, above all, an incredibly charming and courteous individual, and this factors into every quirk of his personality.
He's amiable and able to disarm nearly anyone.
He's not jovial, but polite and entertaining, able to give off the impression of a calm and collected individual without being snobby.
He's reserved, but mostly out of courtesy.
Except, of course, when he's flaunting his intellectual prowess.
Hannibal he's smarter than 99% of people, but he rarely feels the need to overtly express his intellect.
He'll speak to you about intellectual topics, but only when appropriate.
And never in a condescending way,
it's only when he's up against a perceived that he begins to one-up a person with his keen observations of their appearance and character.
Another aspect of Dr.
Lector's psyche is his psychological sadism.
He isn't too sadistic when it comes to physical pain, but Dr.
Lector absolutely loves to toy with his victim's mind.
In this way, he's also like a feline.
In that, he likes to bat around his prey with his intellectual paw, playing with them before going for the kill.
He knows how to find your buttons, and he decimates, not pushes them.
He's smug,
in a way that almost feels earned,
as he's rarely defeated when challenged by another person, but I wouldn't go so far as to call him a narcissist.
Before his crimes, Hannibal was perceived as the perfect gentleman.
and one was grateful to have a man of such stature and elegance in your presence.
After the revelation of his crimes and his perception by the public is nothing short of a monster, Dr.
Elector became a much more daunting and feared individual.
To be in front of the incarcerated doctor was seen as a terrifying ordeal.
as he was a man who no longer had any reservations about toying with anyone and everyone,
and would now aim his intellect, pinpoint, against your very soul.
He still maintained a reputation as one of the country's greatest minds in the field of medicine,
and was still very much respected in many circles, along with being feared.
Dr.
Lecter's personality can best be described as being reserved, but subtly and expertly vicious.
Now, onto his psyche.
This of the doctor is an incredibly mystifying area to study, as has been noted by many professional psychologists over the years.
Hannibal psyche is rather unrealistic as far as giving him a specific label.
The most common labels we give to serial killers,
anti-social personality disorder, disorder, psychopathy and sociopathy, disassociative personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, do not fit in totality for Dr.
Lector.
He's referred to in the novels as a true sociopath, namely by Will Graham, who, in a conversation with the police officer, states the following.
They say he's a sociopath because they don't know what to he has some of the characteristics of what they call a sociopath.
He has no remorse or guilt at all, and he had the first and worst sign, sadism to animals as a child.
Both doctors Bloom and Chilton seem to agree with this assessment as well, referring him as a pure sociopath.
Dr.
Chilton believes he truly is, but he's hiding the more defining traits of sociopathy remarkably well.
That may or may not be true, though likely it isn't true.
Let's take a look at the parameters of not just sociopathy in particular, but antisocial personality disorder, and see which ones apply to Dr.
Lecter, so we can be as accurate as possible in this assessment.
Disregard for right or wrong, I'd have to say this is true of Dr.
Lecter.
It's not that he disregards it,
but that he defies it,
believing societal norms to be at odds with what is truly right and wrong, persistent lying or deceit to exploit others.
He hardly ever lies, but he is deceitful.
especially when attempting to outmaneuver his adversaries.
But before his capture, I'd imagine that he didn't make a habit of lying, or being deceitful, as he despises the trait in others.
Being callous, cynical, and disrespectful of others.
This is certainly true of the doctor, when again, he's up against an adversary.
But outside of that, he's polite and courteous, to essentially using charm or wit to manipulate others for personal gain or pleasure.
I think this is a weak yes.
He does so in his plot to murder and consume people and in his battles against his opponents,
like when he charms a clerk into giving him Will Graham's address.
and when he convinces older, rich members of his practice to sign away parts of their fortune to him.
But don't think it's an obsessive and constant tactic he employed in his everyday life, recurring problems with the law, including criminal behavior.
Obviously, Dr.
Lecter has been apprehended by law enforcement once, but this could hardly be called recurring.
He had problems with Inspector Popeel and his youth, and then would evade capture for many years after his escape from the Baltimore Institute.
institution, but he didn't have constant issues with the law during his lifetime.
Now these are the traits that partially apply to Dr.
Lechter, but there are several others that the doctor doesn't exhibit us.
being, repeatedly violating the rights of others through intimidation and dishonesty,
impulsiveness, or failure to plan ahead, hostility, significant irritability, or agitation, aggression,
or violence,
unnecessary-taking or dangerous behavior with no regard for the safety of self or others,
poor or abusive relationships, failure to consider the negative consequences of behavior, or learn from them being consistently irresponsible, to fulfill work or financially.
The only one that can slightly be applied to him is the aggression, which he does experience bouts of anger, but who doesn't?
His relationships might be described as poor in regard to Lady Murasaki and Clarice, but they were hardly damaging to his developing mind.
Any similar set of parameters you find that are associated with psychopathy, sociopathy, or antisocial personality disorder will lead you to the same results.
Dr.
Lechter is only partially compatible with these conditions.
As I said before, I wouldn't call Dr.
Lechter a narcissist or state that he has a narcissistic person.
But, Dr.
Lector is in some ways,
a narcissist,
although not a very overt one,
and he's also a showman to a certain degree,
as when he commits some of his murders, he makes sure to do it in a symbolic way.
Now the one condition that does manifest in Dr.
Lector, more than any of the others I've mentioned so far, is post-traumatic stress disorder.
disorder, specifically regards to his younger sister, Misha, and to a lesser extent, his parents.
Dr.
Lecter was so traumatized by his younger sister's death that he repressed the memory of it for north of five years during his adolescence,
frequently experiencing terrible but foggy nightmares surrounding the incident.
This would have a notable effect on well into adulthood,
he exhibited the ramifications of this disorder,
frequently dreaming of his sister,
even after he had satisfied his need for revenge,
and striving to bring his sister back to life in the form of a replacement in Clarisse.
Section Vices, philosophy, and beliefs.
We can't fully know Hannibal until we know what in part drives him forward in life.
That being, his many vices.
Hannibal, being born and raised in a cultured and wealthy family, had a taste of luxury from the moment he was born.
In his never-ending quest for higher knowledge,
he would happen upon more and more extravagant food, commodities, clothes, cars, music, and people, as he journeyed through life.
A specific line from the Hannibal novel applies particularly well for Hannibal—taste, the wine.
The Truffles, taste in all things, was a constant between Dr.
Elector's lives in America and Europe, between his life as a successful medical practitioner and fugitive monster.
His face may have changed, but his tastes And he was not a man who denied himself.
While his cannibalism was partially explained by the trauma he suffered,
when his sister was eaten by Grootos and Company, I believe that had this have not happened.
Hannibal may have ventured into cannibalism of his own volition.
That line from Clarice is key.
Hannibal not one who would deny it.
After tasting the finest caviar,
dining on the most extravagant meats, and eating luxurious culinary delights from all across the world, why should he deny himself?
Why should he deny himself anything just because it's forbidden?
All the better reason to pursue it.
What if it's the finest delicacy unknown to the common man?
Imagine the satisfaction of consuming someone you hate.
The community hates.
They may not have served much of a purpose in life, so the least they could do is provide some use.
abuse, in death.
These are some of the many possibilities that may have run through Hannibal's head when he came to the decision to not only kill,
but eat his victims.
For Guttas and the rest,
I see those murders as both revenge and a macabre justice, and that he was also eating parts of these men as an homage.
and I'll eat you because you ate her sort of thing.
It's speculation on my part,
but due to him already having tasted it in a base way,
cooking the meat over a fire,
or eating it quickly after these murders,
he was still reminded of the taste as life went on,
and as his culinary prowess increased,
and he felt he had exhausted the limits of his palate, he remembered that taste he had so long ago.
And what fine dishes he could make, with some careful butchery of the finer cuts on a person.
One thing I haven't mentioned yet,
is his sexual appetite,
which while present,
seems to be little until his union with Clarice, and from what I can tell, it doesn't factor much into how he lives his life.
The last thing I'd like to touch on, regarding is that though he has fine tastes, Dr.
Lecter certainly doesn't abuse them.
He doesn't deny but he doesn't overindulge.
We see him smoking once in Hannibal,
and I imagine he would smoke, and he drinks as well, but only to satisfy himself, to taste these things, not to lean on them.
I believe it's these indulgences, and much of what we learned in the previous sections, that guide Dr.
Electra's philosophy on life.
He's a man who,
through the experiences he endured as an adolescent at the hands of Grutas,
his compatriots, and Paul Momoon, coupled with his elevated upbringing that make him extremely hostile to those that display rude behavior.
If anything Dr.
Electra considers to be the most sinful act a human can indulge, it would have to be rudeness.
In contrast to that concept, the greatest virtue for the doctor would be courtesy and decency.
The thing about Dr.
Electra's warped view of humanity is that even murder and cannibalism are below rudeness.
There are exceptions.
Sometimes one has to forego their own morals to satisfy one's urges, or to escape the confines But overall, Dr.
Lecter remains exceptionally polite, or if not polite, at least elegant.
Elegance would be another aspect of the doctor's philosophy,
to hold yourself to a higher standard, and the pursuit of elegance, luxury, and higher knowledge factor heavily into Dr.
Lecter's life.
Nothing in life is forbidden, and the finer things in life are to be appreciated, enjoyed, and captured.
As far as beliefs, the doctor has little, if any, beyond own personal ambitions and desires.
He doesn't believe in God, having lost that after the death of his parents in Misha.
He does, however, study and embody almost every form of science and art known to man, imbibing in surgery, architecture, toxicology, physics, cuisine, painting.
drawing, music, and on and on.
I'm sure at some point or another.
Dr.
Lecter has studied almost any subject matter you could imagine.
The only intellectual concept he frowns upon that we know of is ironically his own profession in psychology, as he doesn't consider it a science.
I imagine it's more about perception and attention to detail to Dr.
Lecter, rather than anything that can be explicitly studied.
If his philosophy and beliefs could be summed up in a sentence,
I holding oneself to a high standard is crucial, and one should pursue greater knowledge, and understanding of all things, at any cost.
Section 6, victims, crimes, and motives.
Now we've finally arrived at the true evil of Dr.
Lechter.
His many crimes.
Some of them are more noble than others, however, the vast majority of them aren't quite so heroic.
This section will have its own categories, which will be divided into the different motivations Hannibal for committing each murder and crime.
Those are, in order, revenge, courtesy, cannibalism, whimsy, proxy murders, and convenience, but I'll be categorizing them by their primary motive.
motive, and giving mention to their secondary.
Starting with revenge,
we have the deaths of Paul Momoon and Rika Stortlick, Zigmas Milko, Petras Kolnas, Vladiskrutas, Brony Scrantz, the first monitor at the lecture.
Will Graham and Dr.
Frederick Only murders of Momooned,
First Monitor,
Graham and Chilton don't involve the death of Misha,
but those murders were due to a personal affront to the honor of Hannibal's family or Hannibal himself.
Each of these revenge murders have the same motive in common.
But at least four of them involved a quirk of Hannibal's that will come into contact with frequently in this section.
A penchant for showmanship and symbolism,
Paul Momoon was murdered with a slash to his stomach,
referencing the way he insulted Lady Murasaki,
being beheaded afterward as a trophy in the style of the samurai, and then carving his cheeks from his face to consume later.
obeyed in a more gruesome way,
tying him to a tree and pulling his head off with a horse while forcing him to sing and monoline.
For Grutas,
he carved a multitude of M's in his skin,
in honor of Misha,
and with first monitor,
he impaled him through the hand and set a bear trap for him that had the word sing written on it,
a reference to the first monitor chastising Hannibal for not singing Stalinist songs.
The rest were done in varying ways,
one being the drowning of Milko in a cadaver tank,
and then,
as Hannibal's first murders, these would make him a more vengeful killer at this particular moment in his history, with a penchant toward symbolism.
As I said before,
the cannibalism here is more of a symbolic justice for Misha rather than just the desire to taste the meat,
as well as the murders of the other members of Grutas' gang.
The majority of these kills are his more quote unquote noble crimes,
as the people he murders are war criminals and the maiming of someone who tormented him.
And with that in mind,
these particular murders could be considered vigilantism, which may or may not be morally sound based on your views on the subject.
Personally, I don't feel bad for any of them, but vigilantism isn't exactly something to be encouraged no matter how correct it may seem.
This subject may warrant its own video, as vigilantism is an interesting concept.
Let me know what you guys think of that idea down below.
Graham mutilated to begin with because of revenge, rather out of a desire to escape apprehension.
But the second influence Francis Dallerhide to travel to Will's house to murder both Will and his family.
He ended up mutilating Will's face in the novel,
and according to Jack Crawford, Will was now drinking himself into a stupor due to the traumatic circumstances of everything he's gone through.
This was retribution for his capture by Will,
showing that Hannibal wasn't what you would call a good sport and holds grudges against those who interfere with his plans and his life.
He held a similar grudge against Dr.
Chilton, but the primary reason seemed to have been just out of plain hatred for the man.
He considered him not only rude, but incompetent, and Chilton was the primary antagonist to Lechter during his years at the Baltimore Asylum.
This is an unknown,
as we never get confirmation that he kills Chilton,
but it's heavily implied that he did, and likely tortured and cannibalized him as well in return for the torment he caused him.
Our next category, courtesy kills, which I have named such, because Dr.
Lecter believed he was doing the community a courtesy by committing these murders,
is considered a just and proper reason to murder a person, according to Dr.
Lecter.
The victims of his courtesy are Benjamin Raspail,
the less than talented flautist of the Baltimore Orchestra,
an unconfirmed but likely victim of the doctors in an unknown and unskilled Florentine violist, who he likely cannibalized.
Mason who wasn't killed by the doctor,
but mutilated and killed by proxy,
and Paul Krendler,
who was killed to Two of these kills have their significance in highlighting how absolutely crucial perfection is for the Doctor,
and his penchant for showmanship and self-satisfaction when he feeds Raspael to dinner guests,
and with Mason's mutilation, this is his only instance of what you could call selfless humanity.
He seems to have pity on not only Margot,
but for those who at the hands of Mason, as Mason was an exceptionally deplorable human in his own right.
Mollesting children, including his sister, drinking the tears of children in martinis, and torturing people with the infamous dictator, Idi Amin.
Dr.
Lecter had initially proposed that Margot murdered Mason, but she requires Mason alive to secure an heir for her family that's directly tied.
her after sessions with Mason and gaining further knowledge of his many crimes.
Dr.
Lecter chooses to maim and paralyze him instead of killing him by having him feed his face to dogs,
who he was starving to see if they would eat one another.
and snapping his neck with a noose,
all three of these kills have their own courtesy about them,
two of them being a perceived service to the community in enhancing their respective orchestras,
enriching the world of Mason and his abusive practices, mostly, as he still enjoys his martinis from his bedridden state.
In the end, Mason would die due to Dr.
Lecter's influence,
as in the film,
he's pushed into the pit of man-eating pigs by Cordell,
and in the novel, he's killed when Margot attached his eel to his tongue, choking on his own blood, as the eel feeds on him.
The fourth victim of his courtesy,
Paul Krendler,
was born out of a desire to both please clear ease,
and indoctrinate her into his own line of thinking, and at the same time, ease her into becoming a replacement for Misha.
However you want to look at it, though, the killing of Krendler is ultimately a selfish act.
noble, or warranted kill, in the sense of vigilantism, since Krendler's greatest crime was essentially being a scumbag.
The third category Cannibalism is a feature in a good majority of his kills and crimes,
and quite a few can be chalked up to being strictly for the purpose of consumption,
although most of these people weren't in the novels or the films.
The victims that are solidly in this category,
being the first four victims of his Baltimore killing spree,
the census taker he mentions to Clarice in the Silence of the Lambs,
the Princeton student he was suspected of making into dip,
and the rather gruesome and feral mutilation of the nurse, whose tongue he savagely rips out when he's taken out of his cell.
The census taker he may have had a reason for killing.
him as Dr.
Lecter says, and he mutilated the nurse due to easy access to flesh after being locked up.
But I think it's interesting that none of these victims are fleshed out or mentioned by name.
It's almost as if Harris was trying to make a point that these particular victims were nothing more to Dr.
Lecter than meat, but I could be wrong seeing as the rest of the characters don't mention their names either.
but it's worth noting as a possibility.
Another possibility is there were motives beyond hunger for Dr.
Lector, but we're just unaware of them.
Either way, it's interesting to note that this ties into a theory I put forth earlier in this video.
That suddenly, Dr.
Lector found himself in need of a new taste, and he remembered faintly the taste of human from a time long past.
And now...
While that he had crossed that part of his memory palace once again,
he suddenly went on a spree to discover the taste he could find from different individuals.
There are only two murders in our next category, whimsy, and they only appear in the books.
But they're both of note,
and that neither person seems to have been killed for a specific purpose,
although the second was cannibalized, but they were murdered on a whim, and to show off more than anything.
The first in this category was the unnamed bowman he pinned against the shed in the style of the medieval woundman diagram,
and the second was the hunter Donald Barber,
who was shot through the head with a crossbow,
his corpse then being arranged into the Norse blood eagle,
which is when you cut open the back of your victim, sever their ribcage, and pull their lungs out.
display them like wings, which may or may not have been a real practice the ancient Norse indulged, but Dr.
Lector certainly found it inspiring.
Both these kills were more quote-unquote art than anything else, and Dr.
Lector, though having a penchant for showmanship in some of his other kills, perhaps had a moment of artistic inspiration and felt it appropriate to put on an artistic
display, beautiful to him, and to perhaps find someone in the world who shares in his sense of beauty.
As far as proxy murders and crimes go,
we've already mentioned a couple in Will Graham and Mason Berger,
and this category is short, but both multiple Migs and James Gum die specifically from the influence of Dr.
Lechter, without ever having been touched by him.
Migs is an interesting case, as it's unimaginable what the doctor could have been saying to him that would make him swallow his own tongue.
With his keen knowledge of the human mind, it's terrifying to think that he could influence someone with words alone to such utter despair.
James Gum, while simply being a victim of information, was killed because of the information he gave to Clarisse and James.
it.
This is worth pointing out, but it isn't very notable as far as a motive for Dr.
Lector.
As anyone could kill a person in this way by providing information to the police.
In our last category, Convenience, isn't too notable for Dr.
Lecter either, except for highlighting what length he's willing to go to to keep himself free, or for vengeance.
All of the following murders were done out of necessity and opportunity with no
particular motive in mind other than advancing his own agenda toward freedom or revenge.
From we have Gosman and Mueller,
who are shot on his way to rescue Lady Murasaki, and in the film, the boat Captain John, who is shot for the same reason.
From Silence of the Lambs,
we have Officer Boyle,
who was played out to look like a butterfly stuck with a pin,
Sergeant Pembury, and an unknown ambulance EMT and ambulance driver, who were all murdered in order to escape confinement in Tennessee.
We have Lloyd Wyman, whose name only appears in the novel, but who Dr.
Lechter killed to steal his identity.
From Hannibal, we have the curator of the Caponi library, who Dr.
Lector is suspected of murdering, but never confirmed, killing him to replace him as curator.
Then we have Noko, the Romani Ronaldo Pazzi employs to get a fingerprint from Dr.
Lector by staging a pickpocketing, being slashed with a knife to his femoral artery during the attempt.
Rinaldo Pazzi, killed in an extravagant display of showmanship in the same manner as his ancestor, after trying to apprehend Dr.
Lector to present to Mason Verger and Matteo Deo Grazias, killed while fleeing the Caponi library.
Now, all of these different murders, which total a staggering 33 kills, if you include the
proxy kills, are all of varying motives and methods, making Dr.
Lecture a diverse beyond only the intent to cannibalize a person.
So now, in the end, with all this information that we're given, who, and what, is Dr.
Hannibal Lecture.
He's a man who was born into force.
origin, with heightened natural strength and senses unknown to exist in mankind, a man
who, as a young boy, displayed a supreme amount of talent and ingenuity, rivaling and even
surpassing some of the greatest minds the world has ever known.
This mind would be infected by the horror that is PTSD and the death of his family.
In particular,
his sister would transform this still promising young man into a cold and vengeful individual who makes use of their grand intellect to pursue
those who had wronged him and giving his sister a macabre justice in the consumption of the flesh of her killers.
In his pursuit of the forbidden and the luxurious Dr.
Hannibal Lecter would remember the taste of the cheeks he had taken from his
sister's killers and he would yearn to expand his palate beyond its already immense breath.
This spilling over to a spree of murders, to sate his hunger, that would end in his incarceration.
Though he has killed for revenge, courtesy, and food, Dr.
Lecter isn't above killing for the sake of it, or for killing to get what he wants.
Murder numerous individuals to satisfy his own personal satisfaction.
And to keep him from being caged,
he's deeply familiar with the human mind and can read a person almost in their entirety from a few small details.
He's condescending and patronizing when he's towing with someone,
often playing with his food so to speak,
taking delight in not only figuring out the puzzle that is a person, but taking immense pleasure from the torment that he causes them.
Calm, respectful, elegant, curious.
ruthless, and cunning, Dr.
Lecter has learned and knowledgeable beyond imagining,
skilled and talented without equal,
and and remorseless,
past understanding,
and enthrals those who know of him and who come in contact with him,
even his status as one of the most respected medical practitioners in the United States, and perhaps the world, even after his incarceration.
Now, with all of this in mind, and we've learned, we have a good idea of who Dr.
Lecture is.
But now we have to try and answer the question that has plagued the minds of individuals real and fictional.
What is Dr.
Hannibal Lecter?
In the series, he's been given the label of a true sociopath, which we now know to be incorrect.
And, for a lack of a better way to quantify him, some call him a monster, or a demon.
Something supernatural.
I think this last classification, a monster, is an interesting way to define him, as by all accounts.
He seems to be something inhuman, something past our understanding.
However, I'd like to make a proposal to you, and feel free to disagree with me, but
I believe, after all of this information and a lot of thought, I have an answer for you.
And that answer is nothing,
and by nothing I mean that Hannibal Lecter is nothing more than a man, which in my opinion is the most terrifying answer.
We spend our time attempting to understand an individual's motives,
and we try to assign to them a psychological designation that can provide us an explanation into how and why someone
can do the terrible things they do.
But I don't think we can find ourselves an answer in that way for Dr.
Lechter.
As many others have already put forth,
some chalk it up to unrealistic writing on Thomas Harris' part, or that he was simply created to be a supernatural being.
But I think the answer of nothing gives us the perfect answer, with two caveats.
One is that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder,
in regards to his revenge against those who murdered his sister, and his attempted conversion of Clarice.
The other is a label will gramoscience the doctor-lector in Red Dragon,
that I propose to you,
that Will wasn't wrong when he claimed the doctor was insane, but he's not insane in the traditional sense of the word, Dr.
Lector is quite clearly fully competent and aware of what he's doing and the way he acts.
His insanity is not manufactured but in his warped morals and values, and his strange perception of humans in general.
He is a man who simultaneously has the ability to empathize with other humans,
while also viewing them as nothing more than meat,
and applying to society at large his strange moral structure that plays courtesy and manners above murder,
and the pursuit of the forbidden, like the taste of humans.
is not to be frowned upon, and that is what makes him insane.
Not only insane,
but that is where you will find evil in abundance, in a man or woman who has taken upon themselves to decide their own morals.
to value human life,
as much as one would value a cut of meat on their plate,
and chooses to run against what we all as humans have come to agree on,
that murdering people for selfish reasons and eating them is almost universally agreed upon to be an evil act,
and though his physical attributes and his intelligence are highly unlikely, I don't think they're necessarily impossible.
We've only documented and experienced a fragment of human evolution.
One told centuries before us into which a human could be born as a match to Hannibal Lecter.
This is who and what Hannibal Lecter is.
He's a genius.
and a naturally gifted man who subscribes to his own set of morals and who is ultimately
an extraordinarily selfish man who lives his life in pursuit of the finest things the world has to offer,
even if that means harming and murdering people along the way.
Though he's had his stints as a vigilante, meeting out justice to those who by all accounts, deserved it.
These actions.
us, do not excuse his depraved and morally backward behavior that causes death, destruction, and misfortune to those who cross his path.
And though he fascinates us with his supreme intellect and charm, he's a man who undoubtedly deserves to be considered evil.
Thank you all for tuning into this episode of Analyzing Evil, and I hope you've enjoyed.
What are your thoughts on Hannibal Lecter?
Feel free to let me know down in the comments.
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