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Dr. Hannibal Lecter's The Silence Of The Lambs

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Silence of the Lambs Paper Psychological profiling is a method of developing a profile for criminals in unsolved cases. Criminal profiles are used by investigators to infer characteristics that may be advantageous in solving a crime. Dr. Michael Stone, a forensic psychiatrist and professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in Chicago, has created a 22-point scale for the classifications of criminals. This scale ranges from homicide to murder, rape, and torture and has been used to classify some of the most evil criminals. Even fictitious characters such as, Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill, who are featured in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 thriller, The Silence of the Lambs, may have a place on this scale of evil. On the surface Hannibal …show more content…

He never does something that he hasn’t planned or can’t take advantage of. Lecter believes that he is a psychopath although there is never proof, in the movie, that he has a mental disorder. It is only implied. However, he does show that he prone to abnormal and violent behavior and he is not delusional as he is fully aware of everything he does. Therefore I would place Dr. Hannibal Lecter on a level 18 of 22. Level 18, labeled “Torturing Murders”, is defined as applying to those who are primarily motivated by murder and not torture. When they do torture they do not prolong it. I placed him on this level since his fundamental objective is to eat his victims and not to torture …show more content…

Michael Stone’s 22 point scale of evil has been used to catalog and classify some of the most villainous criminals. Based on my interpretation of the scale and of the characters Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill from the movie The Silence of the Lambs, I have placed Dr. Lecter on level 18 and Bill on level 15. Even though both characters are dangerous psychopaths, Dr. Lecter is clearly the more deadly of the two. He has superior intelligence and skill compared to Bill who seems unprofessional in his murderous spree. Overall both characters are extremely deadly and hold spots on the the upper half of the scale of

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Despite the cosmetic differences between the literary and filmic Lecter, the idea of intellectual domination permeates both the book and the film. The essential idea of Silence of the Lambs is the nature of evil, the unmatched cruelty of human nature. Evil, and its derivatives, are found throughout the story, throughout all characters; Chilton abuses his inmates, Crawford selfishly lies to Starling, Buffalo Bill kills, and Hannibal Lecter manipulates. Like Lecter, characters are trapped in constricting cells of malevolence. The book presents Lecter’s predilection with violence as unconscious, inherent to his very nature and, while the Lecter of the film appears to be conscious of his illness and malfeasance, both book and film see Lecter as

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Hannibal Lecter in a maximum security hospital. Her helps was crucial to capture the serial murderer Buffalo Bill. And seven years have passed since Hannibal the Cannibal mock surveillance and disappeared leaving a bloody trail of victims in its wake. Since then Dr. Lecter has been able to engage freely enjoy their grisly tastes. However, when Clarice is disgraced on the FBI, Dr. Lecter out of the shadows tries to contact her.

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In this case, the calculated killer should not receive the death penalty but be given 20 years of prison with psychiatric care based on the 8th amendment, the fact that he murdered someone, and his mental illness.

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