Hannibal Lecter
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| Hannibal Lecter | |
| Birth name | Hannibal Lecter (VIII) |
| Titles | Count Hannibal Lecter VIII Hannibal Lecter M.D. |
| Aliases | Lloyd Wyman "Dr. Fell" |
| Nickname | "Hannibal the Cannibal" |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Caucasian |
| Birth | 1933 (Actual) 1938 (Documented) |
| Ancestry | Lithuanian (Paternal) Italian (Maternal) |
| Relationships | Count Lecter (Father) Simonetta Sforza (Mother) Mischa Lecter (Sister) Robert Lecter (Uncle) Lady Murasaki (Aunt and guardian) Clarice Starling |
| Enemies | Vladis Grutas Pascal Popil Frederick Chilton Mason Verger |
| Respected Rivals | Will Graham Clarice Starling |
| M.O. | Organized serial murder, Revenge Cannibalism, Torture |
| Occupation(s) | Surgeon, Psychiatrist, Culinary Artist, Artist, Library Curator |
| Current status: | At large |
| Portrayed by: | Manhunter Brian Cox The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, & Red Dragon Anthony Hopkins Hannibal Rising Gaspard Ulliel, Aaron Thomas |
Dr. Hannibal Lecter was introduced as a brilliant serial killer in the 1981 fictional novel by Thomas Harris called Red Dragon. Lecter's role at first in the series is minor, but in the sequel novel The Silence of the Lambs, he becomes the primary antagonist. In the third novel Hannibal, Lecter is then portrayed as the main character. His role as the main character is continued into the fourth novel Hannibal Rising, which explores his childhood and developement into a serial killer. Lecter's character also appears in all five film adaptations. The first film (Manhunter, 1986) was loosely based off of Red Dragon. Manhunter was remade in 2002 under the original title Red Dragon; featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins, whose portrayal of the character in Silence of the Lambs had made Hannibal Lecter a cultural icon.
Lecter (as portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins) has been named by The American Film Institute to be the most memorable villain in film history.[1]
Appearance
Hannibal Lecter is described in the novels as being short and sleek, and with wirey strength in his arms. In Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, Lecter's left hand has the condition called mid ray duplication polydactyly, or his left hand has an extra digit; a duplicated middle finger. In Hannibal, he has since had his extra digit removed, and Hannibal Rising makes no mention of his extra finger.
Lecter's most noted feature is his unusual eyes, which are a shade of maroon, and appear red when light is reflected on them. He is also said to have small white teeth and a dark hair.
Lecter's appearence changes slightly in Hannibal, having plastic surgery on his face to easier obscure his identity from law enforcement.
Character Development and Origins
Author Thomas Harris has never explained where he got inspiration for Hannibal Lecter, but in a documentary for Hannibal Rising, Lecter's early murders were said by the filmmakers to be based on murders that Harris had covered when he was a crime scene reporter in the 1960s [1]. However, real-life cannibalistic murderers such as Albert Fish and Andrei Chikatilo have been suggested to be possible influences.[2]
In 1992, Harris also paid a visit to the ongoing trials of Pietro Pacciani, who was suspected of being the serial killer nicknamed the "Monster of Florence". Parts of Pacciani's killing methods were used as reference for the novel Hannibal.
A number of critics have noted similarities between Hannibal Lecter and Dracula [2][3], a connection which is further referenced in Hannibal Rising. Harris had made Lecter, like Dracula, an Eastern European count; however, whether or not Harris used Dracula as an inspiration for Hannibal Lecter has never been confirmed.
Harris got Lecter's name from the Greek term "Lecter" (also: Lecture) which means "reader" or "books". This term was intended by Harris to emphasize Lecter's love of books, as Lecter was seen to have stacks of them in his cell during his incarceration. He is later depicted to spend most of his time at the library when he lives in Florence, Italy.
Unusual triats
Even though Lecter has been unofficially classified a "pure sociopath", he was never truly pychologically profiled because of his inconsistent behavioral traits and his failure to cooperate with the psychiatrists who evaulated him. Harris wrote in Red Dragon that these unusual traits were intentional, so that Lecter was not able to be truly classified into any specific condition. Lecter hid his condition while he was incarcerated, so that he remained the greatest serial killer enigma in custody. However, later in the series, it is unclear wheather or not these abnormal behavioral traits were elaborated by Lecter himself in order to hide his true condition. It is also stated that Lecter's behavior frightened most of the psychiatrists who evaluated him, so much that even in their most professional diagnosis, he was simply described as "monster".
In The Silence of the Lambs upon his first interview with Clarice Starling, Lecter performs self evaluation. He simply describes himself as being evil, stating that psychiatry is "pueril", and wrong to catagorize different kinds of evil as different behavioral conditions. Lecter then supports this by stating that the inconsistencies in his behavior are traits of pure evil, and that he does not possess a behavioral abnormality.
Lecter's most recognized physical ability is his heightened sense of smell. Lecter is able to identify someone by scent alone, determine what kind of perfume or cologne a person is wearing, and can smell tiny amounts of semen and blood. Lecter is also described with remarkable physical strength, so much that he has been compared to certian animals. Lecter's posture is described as erect as a dancer, and still, while he tilts his head to one side while listening to someone.
Lecter is also known for his remarkable patience and his ability to hide his true nature socially. Lecter, unlike most people with a violent condition, and is described as being very social. He is also known for his remarkable intellect, it being described as "not measureable by any means known to man". Lecter's unusual abilities go even further, him having a unique ability to know about people without truly meeting them, and can instantly tell when someone is being dishonest.
Biography
- The following account of the character's biography is based strictly on the novel series. All date contradictions are purported to be by Lecter himself, with the dates in Hannibal Rising purporting to be the correct ones.
Ancestry
Hannibal Lecter was the eighth generation descendant of the warlord "Hannibal the Grim" who defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald (1410). Hannibal Lecter's mother, Madame Simonetta Sforza, was descended from both the Visconti and Sforza families who separately ruled Milan for a total of 250 years.
It has been suggested that Lecter was also descended from Giuliano Bevisangue ("Bevisangue" means "Blood-Drinker"), a feared and ruthless figure in 12th-century Tuscany, and from the Machiavelli bloodline. In the book Hannibal, Lecter himself would pursue this subject, to determine from the records of the Capponi Library if there was any true connection to Bevisangue, but he was unable to answer the question. Hannibal also asserted that Lecter was a distant cousin of the artist Balthus.
The Monster
Hannibal Lecter was born on January 20, 1933, to a wealthy Lituanian Count family.
Images of Lecter's childhood were first revealed in Hannibal, but were fully detailed in Hannibal Rising. Even though Lecter's reasoning behind murder remains a mystery, it is strongly suggested that witnessing the violent murder of his beloved sister Mischa was the major catalyst that later lead him to serial murder and cannibalism. After the unexpected death of his parents in World War Two, Lecter and his sister Mischa were held against their will by a group of looters during the severe winter of 1944. Unable to find food, the looters had no choice but to resort to cannibalism. Branding Lecter too skinny, the group chose Mischa to be consumed. Lecter was severely traumatized by his sister's death, and the incident haunted him for the rest of his life.
Lecter would later hunt the men who cannibalized his sister, and as vengeance, would cannibalize them, which eventually lead him to the United States; and establishing a psychiatric practice in Baltimore, Maryland. Lecter would rise rapidly in Baltimore society, and lead to him corresponding with the FBI on serial killer cases, but his trait of murder and cannibalism did not stop after he had avenged his sister. It lead to him killing nine people before being captured by the FBI and exposed for his crimes. His trial earned him the nickname of "Hannibal the Cannibal", and lead to his eight year incarceration in a mental facility, before making his escape during a transfer to a Tennessee state prison.
Lecter would be found seven years later residing in Florence, Italy. One of his surviving victims would hunt him and attempt to capture him before the FBI did. Lecter would be saved by an FBI agent named Clarice Starling, whom he had acquainted during his incarceration seven years earlier.
Seeing her as a surrogate for Mischa, he kidnapped Starling and attempted to condition her into believing that she was Mischa. Lecter failed to condition Starling, greatly underestimating her strong will. Starling, emotionally exhausted by the corrupt officials of the FBI, fled with Lecter to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Instead of her becoming an image of Mischa, it is subtly suggested that Starling becomes an image of Lecter.
Modus Operandi
Lecter's MO is unique when compared to other fictional serial killers, because he is known to kill based on retribution, discourtesy and poetic justice along with necessity.
Retribution
Most of Lecter's murders were carried out for revenge and retribution. This characteristic of his MO started early on, his first murder (Paul Momund) had insulted Lecter's aunt and Lecter then murdered him. The most relevant series of murders based on revenge was when he murdered all the members of the group of men that killed his sister Mischa. He is then seen neglectfully torturing Mason Verger for retribution of raping Margot Verger. He is then seen murdering Paul Krendler for disgracing Clarice Starling.
Discourtesy
Lecter is most widely known to kill because of discourtesy and rudeness. This is first discovered in Silence of the Lambs when he drove IJ Miggs to suicide after Miggs had thrown semen at Agent Starling as she walked by his cell. Lecter told Starling that discourtesy was "unspeakably ugly" to him. This is seen again in Hannibal when he kills the Bow hunter that offends him.
Poetic Justice
Lecter's signature style is poetic justice, placing his victim's bodies in positions that imitate the positions of figures in historical documents, art, and medical books. His most referenced poetic justice style murder was with his sixth American victim, who was laced to a pegboard in the position of Wound Man. The next person we see this with is Pazzi during Hannibal, Lecter hanged him at the same location and in the same manner as Pazzi's ancestor. Lecter then mutilates Paul Krendler by performing a cranionomy on him, a medical tradition of the ancient Egyptians. When he kills the bow hunter, he places him in a position of an ancient Norse execution method, the Blood Eagle.
Victims
Lecter's confirmed number of victims is 28 (8 in Europe during the events of Hannibal Rising, 9 in the Baltimore area, 5 during his escape, and 6 in the events of Hannibal), though the actual number is most likely higher, as there were a few implied murders as well as possibly unmentioned murders. By the end of Hannibal, the FBI knew of only 16 victims, Pazzi and the bow hunter being added to his original list of 14. Lecter also had association with three attempted murders and a driven suicide. The novels leave uncertain whether the FBI know of Lecter's role in Krendler's murder. The beginning of Hannibal suggests that Lecter killed the curator of the Capponi Library in order to more easily assume his position as Library Curator. Both The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal make strong implications that Lecter killed the warden of the mental facility where he stayed, after his escape.
Film portrayals
Brian Cox was the first actor to portray Lecter, taking the role in Manhunter, but due to Cox declining the role of Lecter for the sequel, the actor was changed to Sir Anthony Hopkins for the filming of The Silence of the Lambs. Hopkins continued to portray Lecter in the following films (including the remake of Manhunter which was filmed under its original book title Red Dragon). However, in the film Hannibal Rising, French actor Gaspard Ulliel plays Hannibal Lecter as young man, and Aaron Thomas plays him as a boy.
In a commentary on The Criterion Collection DVD version of The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins claims the villainous computer HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey as one inspiration for his interpretation of the character. Cox stated on the Manhunter DVD interview that his main inspiration for playing Lecter was Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel, who, according to Cox, "didn't have a sense of right or wrong."
Even before the character's established backstory in Hannibal, both Brian Cox and Anthony Hopkins portrayed Lecter with distinctly European accents. Cox spoke with a British accent, whereas Hopkins spoke in a hybrid of British and American. An accent is never even mentioned in the books.
Lecter as a cultural figure
Even though Lecter is a fictional character, he has been referenced in real life by authors, movie makers, and even the FBI. Many real-life serial killers, such as Andrei Chikatilo, BTK, Robert Maudsley, and Jeffrey Dahmer have been compared to him. Lecter's relationship with Starling and Graham set a precedent for the relationships between fictional murderers and police officers; it has now become common for cinematic detectives to have "special relationships" with serial killers based on grudging respect and mutual obsession, and for police to consult with them in their cases in order to "think like their prey."
It has even been said that the real life serial killer Ted Bundy had owned a copy of Red Dragon, and was inspired by Hannibal Lecter to assist the FBI in the capture of the Green River Killer.
References
- ^ "AFI's 100 Heroes & Villains". American Film Institute. June 2003. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
- ^ http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/lecter/4.html
See also
External links
- Information about Hannibal Lecter, with a strong central focus on Manhunter (1986)
- Manhunter (1986) at IMDb
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991) at IMDb
- Hannibal (2001) at IMDb
- Red Dragon (2002) at IMDb
- Hannibal Rising (2007) at IMDb
- Crime Library profile of Lecter
- Hannotations
- German fanpage with downloads
- The Hannibal Lecter Studiolo
- The Hannibal Lecter Studiolo Forum
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