Symbolism In Silence Of The Lambs

Clarice Starling the Feminine Hero
Female heroes are always becoming more prevalent in film. From Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz to Katniss in The Hunger Games the density of heroines has only increased. One of the most courageous and head strong of these heroes is Clarice Starling in Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs. Clarice’s story follows that of the classic hero’s journey without apology. She faces prejudice, her dark past, and two of the most terrifying villains ever created: Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill.
Clarice, and FBI trainee, is instantly shown as a fish-out-of-water. All of her first interactions are with men, and one of the most defining shots of the opening of the film is Clarice getting into an elevator filled with men in red shirts. They loom over Clarice, who, by comparison, is small and in grey, showing her passivity compared to the large group of masculinity surrounding her. Throughout the film this fish-out-of-water symbolism is continually used, mostly in shots where Clarice is the only female in the room, the group of men she is surrounded by staring at her. This symbolism shows how she is being routed against and how much she has to prove.
The call to adventure occurs early in the film when Clarice is

called into Jack Crawford’s office in the behavioral science department. He asks her to talk to Hannibal Lecter, a cannibal, for a routine questioning because Hannibal will not talk to the other agents. The inciting incident that sets up this call to adventure is when Clarice sees the bulletin board behind Jack Crawford’s deck. This board contains photos of Buffalo Bill’s victims and various other evidence. This visual shakes Clarice, and although she thinks her task to talk to Hannibal has nothing to do with Buffalo Bill, it is later reveled that getting information on the killer was the plan all along.
Although Dr. Chilton, head psychiatrist at the ward where Hannibal is held, tries to prevent her from doing so, Clarice crosses the first threshold in the hospital, leaving her familiar world and going down into that of Hannibal Lecter’s. Hannibal serves as her mentor, with powers of seemingly limitless knowledge and control, despite being held in an asylum. No one accompanies Clarice; she refuses Dr. Chilton when he tries. This scene where Clarice visits Hannibal is also important for its border symbolism. The shot of the gate sliding open for Clarice before she walks down the row of inmates shows that she is clearly leaving her old world. More importantly, Hannibal’s cell having clear glass instead of bars shows the intimacy and clarity in her and Hannibal’s relationship. Their view of each other isn’t obstructed literally and symbolically. This juxtaposes later in the film when Hannibal is behind bars after he learns that Clarice has lied to him, and their relationship is tainted.
Despite being changed by her visit to Lecter, Clarice reaches the point of no return when she goes into the “Your Self” garage, a place Hannibal sent her to find clues as to who Buffalo Bill is. This begins her hunt for the ruthless killer, and her investment to the case. After finding a decapitated head there is no return for Clarice, and she is officially on the journey, making this her “Belly of the Whale” moment. She slides into the dark garage under the propped up door, and comes out in the rain, a baptism symbol marking the start of the next step of her journey.
In Silence of the Lambs the goddess that comes to Clarice’s aid is the death head’s moth. Although not a person or romantic challenge, the death’s head moth brings temptation, help, and beauty to the journey. The moth helps Clarice immensely with finding Buffalo Bill, leading the way throughout the journey. It adds intrigue, mystery, and brings Clarice the clues when she needs them, and in those ways the moth is the goddess.
Despite being incredibly helpful, Hannibal is also Clarice’s temptation and gets her off track of her journey.

His prying into her past and personal life distracts her from the case, however, it helps her personal growth in the journey. Not only is Hannibal an important aspect of Clarice’s journey, but he is also having his own. Hannibal’s journey is partially represented by his clothing. We first meet him in blue; he’s subdued, sad, but also bold in words and actions. Then we see him in orange, when he is in between hospitals and trying to reach a compromise with the senator. Lastly we see him in white. He wears this during the killing of the security guards, and it represents his new beginning he is about to have as he

escapes.
The transmogrification, or loss, Clarice experiences is in her past, brought forward by Hannibal. Both the death of her father and the lamb she saved from the pen still weigh on her. Her “Dragon Battle” is physically against Buffalo Bill, but it is also representative of her overcoming the trauma she experienced as a child. This trauma is embodied in the captured, screaming Catherine. Clarice’s childhood memory is the atonement she faces, it being the only thing that truly scares her, mystifies her, and could potentially lead to her failure.
Killing Buffalo Bill is Clarice’s apotheosis, or her transformation to a higher state. She confronts her fear and literally comes out of the dark when she shoots him, a bullet hitting the window to let light pour into the dark basement, showing she is enlightened. A shot of spinning wind art with butterflies on it also shows that she has been reborn. Clarice grows, reaches a higher state, and becomes more aware of herself and what she’s capable of. In this moment of death, she is reborn, like a moth from a cocoon.
Clarice does obtain what she set out to do, and her “Ultimate Boon” is achieved. She shows triumph of the feminine, confronts her past and fears, and satisfies her ambitions. Clarice is not reluctant to return to the old world, the new world was insightful for her but not a place she wants to stay. She crosses the return threshold when she leaves Buffalo Bill’s house. The cycle of her journey is completed when Jack Crawford helps her home, and then leaves her with congratulations after she becomes an FBI agent.
Clarice managed to conquer both her new and ordinary worlds. The new world of killers she conquered in killing Buffalo Bill and reaching an understanding with Hannibal Lecter. She conquered her ordinary world in showing that she was successful and capable in her own way, without being a man. So, by the successes Clarice succeeded in her Hero’s Journey. However, the true ending to Clarice's journey is when she receives phone call from Hannibal. He says “I have no intention to call on you, Clarice. The world’s more interesting with you in it.” The State of Perfection is restored by this phone call, with Hannibal implying that he will not come after her. Clarice is free to continue onto her life a changed person.