Hannibal Lecter In The Film 'Silence Of The Lambs'

928 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cases of antisocial personality disorder

The Silence of the Lambs Evaluation
The Silence of the Lambs portrays two serial killers with antisocial personality disorder, Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill. Lecter is a psychiatrist in prison and maximum-security for eating his patients. Clarice Starling who is working for the FBI, is sent to get information out of Lecter about a transexual who skins women and make bodysuits out of them and learns that he was one of Lecter's old patients. She attempts to understand the mind of a psychopath in order to find the one who is on the loose, but she ultimately learns that she has to play her role as his patient so he can lead her to him. Although they both have the same disorder, Dr. Lecter is the character that displays the most antisocial personality disorder traits that is focused on in The Silence of the Lambs. The following will contain the traits that Dr. Hannibal Lecter specifically portrays according to the diagnostic criteria of antisocial personality disorder in the …show more content…

On the contrary, the character was more than convincing and realistic. There are also no myths that the film perpetrate. Hannibal Lecter conveyed the traits of antisocial personality disorder, playing a perfectly functioning psychopath that did not characterize exaggerated, excessive or false characteristics. Some traits that are looked for in order to diagnose antisocial personality disorder, but that were not included into Hannibal Lecter's character are: a. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead and b. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations. Hannibal obviously failed to escape becoming imprisoned but he also flawlessly escaped prison without one slip up in the way. He payed attention to details and carefully planned out everything to the point to where he made sure his escape included a ticket

Show More
Related

  • Exploring the Psyche of Infamous Fictional Cannibals

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    His overwhelming sense of entitlement and hypocrisy, is proven when he refers to himself as ‘royalty.’ Hannibal’s occasional nice gestures are undermined when he is consumed with his cannibalistic urges. Some may say, he is only psychotic because of his early exposure to PTSD, but this theory is proven wrong. He showed severe symptoms earlier in his life, and the trauma only exaggerated the effects. His cunning and manipulative ways are far from unintentional; he manipulates people’s truth to discover their behavior and actions, so when he kills them it is more pleasurable. Hannibal’s unquestionable parasitic lifestyle is verified when he discusses the ‘finer things in life’. He discusses his interest in - dinner parties, fine arts, and fine dining. Authenticating his strange sense of

    Read More

  • Soulless Monsters: A Closer Look at Antisocial Personality Disorder.

    1841 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every few years there are disturbing, yet fascinating headlines: “BTK killer: Hiding in plain sight” or “Police discover at least 10 victims at Anthony Sowell's home”; but what would allow an individual to commit the crimes they did? In cases like these there is usually a common link: Antisocial Personality disorder. It is an unknown disorder to most of the population which is why there are so many questions to be answered, the main ones being what is antisocial personality disorder and how does it effect patient and society as a whole? To answer these questions one needs an accurate background picture of the disorder.

    Read More

  • What Is Hannibal Character Analysis Essay

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hannibal is considered a monster that eats people, savoring the flesh of his victims. That he enjoys the fear that he invokes, while coming down on his victim with relish. While ingratiating himself into the lives of people he considered vulgar, he enjoyed putting them in their place. As well-known surgeon, he functioned normally. He enjoyed all the finer things in life. He believed that being the only one who knew everything, made him a superior being.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Serial Killers

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    The most common characteristics that many serial killers share are killing and abusing of animals during childhood, fetishism, anti-socialism, high I.Q.’s (while also doing poorly in school), and alcohol and/or substance abuse. Fictional character, Dexter Morgan, exhibited serial killing tendencies from a young age. He would kill neighborhood animals and was forced by his father to fake emotion and normality to fit in. It appears that Showtime hit the nail on the head with this one. One of the most well known serial killers, Ted Bundy, was infamously known for being cold and merciless. During interviews, he responded to questions about his victims by calling himself cold and explaining that he could not care less about his victims. Cannibalistic serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, started out by killing dogs and leaving their heads out on a stick for others to see before moving on to killing and eating people. These are just a few examples of many that prove that commonality is what makes a serial killer, a serial

    Read More

  • What Is Antisocial Personality Disorder In Silver Linings Playbook?

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    Personality plays a major role as a motivating factor which drives individuals to behave in certain a way. It is the catalyst behind every motive and most crimes are committed due to personality disorder and unstable mental state of the offender.

    Read More

  • Collectivist And Individualist Views On The Cause Of Crime

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    A persons’ personality is made up of different characteristics such as, being humorous, compassionate, self-obsessive, outgoing, shy, aggressive etc… These are things that influence our behaviour in predicable ways. An increase of certain personality traits like, being aggressive, impulsive, easily influenced, no fear/understanding of consequences, make people more disposed to crime. People with personality disorders are even more disposed to crime. Personality disorders are mental health illnesses that affect how people cope with their feelings and how they communicate with other people. They usually develop in late adolescence and early childhood.

    Read More

  • How Is Hannibal Lecter Portrayed As A Forensic Psychiatrist

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Hannibal Lecter a character in the film The Silence of the Lambs is portrayed as a brilliant forensic psychiatrist, an extremely refined gentleman with a charismatic and charming personality. Hannibal Lecter is meticulous in appearance, speaks very exactly, has immaculate wittiness, and astounding intellect (Demme, 1991). Though not directly indicated in the film, there is clear evidence of his educational background as he was a well-known forensic psychiatrist which requires an extensive amount of education. This film did not speak to Lecter’s relationship history nor his childhood background. Hannibal Lecter was sanctioned to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital for cannibalistic crimes he committed against his own patients during his practice as a psychiatrist (Demme, 1991). At the start of the film it was indicated that he had been housed at the hospital for approximately eight years.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Dehumanization In The Silence Of The Lambs

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    The topic of dehumanization has an interesting dynamic in Demme’s film The Silence of the Lambs. This consists of the fact that the Clarice Starling’s own humanity is consistently undermined and almost immediately rectified by Dr. Lecter. Lecter in himself is an ironic character since while he has no fear about killing someone through cannibalism. One of the highest symbolic forms of dehumanization possible, he still respects and guards Starling’s humanity. This character receives even more complexity as Lecter is revealed as more and more calculating and cold throughout the series, almost appearing desensitized to most human emotions, interactions and concerns. Lecter’s analytical, observant, and almost sociopathic outlook on his surroundings contrasts heavily with Starling’s earnest desire to discover the secrets behind Buffalo Bill’s identity and reasons, a desire to

    Read More

  • Silence of the Lambs

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    Without thought, Dr. Hannibal Lecter displays the general three P’s of personality disorders: persistent, pervasive and pathological. Specifically, Lecter appears to consistently exhibit the symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder, which is found in Cluster B of personali...

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Hannibal Vs. Silence Of The Lamb And Hannibal

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dr. Hannibal Lector, one of the main characters of the story is a psychiatrist, but also happens to be a cannibalistic serial killer. Dr. Lector is introduced into the NBC series as a psychiatrist who occasionally helps the FBI with their murder cases. Whereas in Silence of the Lambs, Dr. Lector was being held in prison until he eventually broke loose. It is made clear to the audiences the Hannibal is definitely the killer, there is no mystery to that, which can make things interesting for this character in the Hannibal series of whether or not he’ll be caught.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Serial Killing and Sexual Sadism Applying Robert Pickton as a Case Study

    2106 Words  | 5 Pages

    Simons, C. (2001). Antisocial personality disorder in serial killers: The thrill of the kill. The Justice Professional, 14(4), 345-356.

    Read More

  • Hannibal

    1041 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hannibal, a Carthaginian general and one of the greatest generals that ever lived was renown for his strategies and courageousness, such as crossing the Alps and using the "bottleneck strategy" at Lake Trasemene. He used strategies that a lot of generals at this time, especially Roman generals, would never think of and in doing this he almost destroyed the Roman republic.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers In Dr. Hannibal Lecter And Buffalo Bill

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were two serial killers portrayed in the movie- Dr Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill. As far as diagnosis is concerned, they both have an antisocial personality disorder, and many similar characteristics, however each has his own array of psychological issues.

    Read More

  • Silence of the Lambs

    1479 Words  | 3 Pages

    " Silence of the Lambs " is a classic of the genre which is a thriller. A cult film which signed up in history of cinema. A masterpiece performed by Anthony Hopkins. The film is based on the book by Thomas Harris of the same name (Harris, 1988) . Although it was filmed in 1991, it remains one of the best psychological thrillers ever made. Jonathan Demme's film goes beyond the classical framework of the genre, playing with intellect viewer with associations . The movie surprises, though, even the predictability becomes a attractive - predictable places, characters, and events. Demme's film is in my opinion a great movie of crime, derived many, many of the thriller which has many unusual psychological content . Rarely do you find in contemporary cinema so well drawn characters, so scary and fascinating look of evil .

    Read More

  • Hannibal Lecter

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...others who live transient lifestyles. Typical psychopathic serial killers are not as intelligent as Hannibal himself. He had an unusual gift; he used his senses to be able to remember scents, sights, and details. He also had the ability to break a person down to their weakness, which is how he was able to get them off guard. He dehumanized his victim’s, flattened them to worthless objects in his mind.

    Read More

More about Hannibal Lecter In The Film 'Silence Of The Lambs'

Open Document