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Revision as of 15:52, 6 May 2004 by 194.83.16.10 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character in novels written by Thomas Harris and in the films made from the novels:
- Red Dragon - both 1986's Manhunter, which names him "Lecktor," as well as 2002's Red Dragon
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Hannibal
In Harris' novels and the films based upon them, Dr. Lecter is a brilliant, though insane, psychiatrist and psychopathic serial killer, who practices cannibalism upon his victims.
Hannibal Lecter's character represents the continuation of a long-line of homicidal psychopathic serial killers portrayed in film. Perhaps the earliest to portray a serial killer was Fritz Lang's 1931 film M, which featured a young Peter Lorre as a child murderer. After a lengthy hiatus, Alfred Hitchcock revived the genre with his experimental 1960 blockbuster Psycho starring Anthony Perkins, which was based loosely on the murders committed by psychopath Ed Gein.
The film-going public continues to be morbidly fascinated with serial killers as arch-villains, and Hollywood and TV producers continue to milk the subject. Popular films within the genre include Dirty Harry, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the various Halloween and Scream films, Copycat, and numerous others. Popular TV series such as Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The X-Files, and Millennium often featured serial killers.
Brian Cox was the first actor to play Lecter, in the 1986 movie Manhunter. But it is Anthony Hopkins who most movie goers recognize as Lecter, appearing in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hannibal (2001), and Red Dragon (2002). There is talk of yet another movie being made about Lecter, a prequel about Lecter's early life.
Recently, the American Film Institute named Hannibal Lecter as played by Hopkins as the number one film villain of all time.
The following information deals with material in the books, and not the movies.
Hannibal Lecter was born in the year 1938 in Lithuania to wealthy parents. A younger sister, Mischa, would arrive three or four years later.
When Lecter was six a group of Nazis invaded his family's estate. Lecter, along with his sister and a group of children, hid in a nearby barn. Lecter survived, but Mischa was taken away and eaten by the group of Nazis. It is believed that this is the event that would shape the rest of Lecter's life.
His activities are largely unknown until the 1970s. During this time, he set up his psychiatric establishment and began to help those around Baltimore, Maryland. His wealth began to grow as his patients began to release funds and stocks to him.
Before Lecter was caught, it was believed that he had killed a total of nine, most of which were his patients. His signature was to cook and eat the parts of those he killed. There are only two known victims to survive.
Only two of the nine victims are known by name in the books: Mason Verger and Benjamin Raspail. Mason Verger went through psychiatric counseling with Lecter after being convicted of child molestion. Lecter fed Verger various drugs. Under Lecter's suggestions, Verger cut off large pieces of his own face and fed them to his dogs. Even though he was one of two to survive an attack by Lecter, he would forever be stuck on a life-support system.
Lecter's final and ninth victim before capture was Benjamin Raspail. Raspail was part of the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra and a patient of Lecter's. His body would be discovered in a pew in Virginia with his thymus and pancreas removed. It is believed that Lecter served the organs at a dinner party for the Symphony Board of Directors. As Lecter would tell Clarice Starling, "His sessions were going nowhere. It was the best thing for him, really."
FBI Agent Will Graham would end up questioning Lecter about Raspail. During a visit to Lecter's office, Graham noticed a set of textbooks, one of which was open to a picture of the Wound Man, an illustration commonly used in medical textbooks. The Wound Man was similar to a murder Lecter had done ten days earlier, but had remained unexplained. Before Graham could arrest Lecter, Lecter attacked him with a linoleum knife. He was arrested by the Maryland State Police. Graham ended up spending months in the hospital before resigning from the FBI.
The courts found him insane and he was sent to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital for nine life terms.
Lecter displays good behavior until June of 1976, when he complained of chest pains. During the check up, the staff removed his restraints, and Lecter attacked a nurse, chewing out her tongue. Lecter's shoulder was dislocated in the struggle. From this day on, Lecter was handled by heavy restraints, which includes being strapped in a straight-jacket to a hand-truck when outside of his cell and being fitted with a hockey mask over his face.
Despite his infamous status, Lecter received stacks of mail from those wanting to figure out how he worked psychologically. He allowed the occasional interview, but only because he liked to mentally toy with those that came to visit. He also liked to toy with Dr. Fredrick Chilton, the hospital director. Chilton would become Lecter's nemesis while at the hospital, and he only kept Lecter around in hopes of gaining his own fame. According to Lecter, Chilton didn't have a medical degree.
The front of Lecter's cell was made up of the standard black bars. In front of this was a huge nylon rope. This set up was changed to just bullet-proof glass for better camera angles in the movies. The inside of his cell consisted of a bed, a sink, a desk, a moderate library, and various drawings of buildings of Florence, Italy. Visitors were allowed to pass items to Lecter, as long as they didn't include any sharp objects. Sometimes Lecter had items taken away from him, especially if he displeased Chilton. In Silence of the Lambs he gets Multiple Miggs to swallow his tongue after talking to him all night. For his punishment, Chilton took away Lecter's drawings, library, toilet seat, and kept a television on full volume to the "God Channel". According to Lecter, Chilton "enjoys his petty torments".
Lecter showed respect only to those that showed respect to him, and this included his caretaker, Barney. His motives for killing are largely unexplained until the book Hannibal, where it is revealed that Lecter likes to "eat the rude". "Disrespect is unspeakably ugly to me," Lecter tells Clarice Starling after Multiple Miggs throws semen at her. It's later that night that he talked Miggs into swallowing his own tongue.
During his stay in the hospital, Lecter would help out with two cases. Will Graham came out of retirement in the early '80s to help out with the Red Dragon case. While at a dead end, he went to Lecter for help. A few years later, Jack Crawford sent FBI trainee Clarice Starling to Lecter. Starling thought she was there for a class assignment, hoping to get Lecter to take a questionaire, but she ended up getting him to help her in the Buffalo Bill case. In both of these instances, Lecter used word play and subtle clues so that Graham and Starling could figure it out themselves. It is with his relationship with Clarice Starling that most of the books revolve around.
Buffalo Bill's (a.k.a. Jame Gumb) latest kidnapee was Catharine Martin, daughter of Sen. Ruth Martin. Lecter told Chilton he would reveal the name of Buffalo Bill to Martin and was promptly flown to Memphis, Tennessee and was held at the Shelby County Courthouse. During his stay in Memphis, Lecter lied to Martin, giving her the fake name "Louis Friend". Starling then visited Lecter at his makeshift cell, and he gave her some final clues before making a bloody escape, killing two police officers during the ordeal.
Lecter would kill three more times,(two ambulance men and Lloyd Wyman), in order to assume a new identity. After getting plastic sugery done, he moved to Florence, Italy under the name "Dr. Fell". As Dr. Fell, he took a job as a museum curator after murdering his predecessor.
His identity would be discovered by Florence detective Rinaldo Pazzi ten years after his escape from Memphis. Pazzi struck a deal with Mason Verger to get Lecter alive so that Verger could torture Lecter himself using wild boars. Clarice Starling, now an FBI agent, would be tipped off too by Pazzi. After killing Pazzi, Lecter went back to the United States. Both Verger and Starling would hunt him, hoping to get to him before the other. Lecter ended up being captured by Verger's men, but escaped once again, not before kidnapping Starling and convincing Margot Verger (Mason's sister) to kill her brother. Lecter left a voice message claiming responsibility for Mason's death.
Lecter kept Starling in hiding during the next few months. Starling would end up being Lecter's lover after brainwashing and conditioning by various drugs and techniques. Their whereabouts were unknown, although there would be an eyewitness account in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In the books, Lecter has been described as short, with maroon colored eyes, even rows of small white teeth, and six fingers on his left hand. He tends to be very still, yet very quick when required, and tilts his head to one side when listening. He has exellent hearing and smell. His total number of murders total 21 murders (14 confirmed by the FBI) and 4 attemted murders.