Hannibal And Clarice example essay topic

Hannibal-RPR In Thomas Harris' Hannibal, Harris, like many other authors, seems to be obsessed with the darker side of humanity and it is through his characterisation of 'Hannibal the Cannibal' in his novel that he revels the other side of humanity, the side that most people would rather stayed locked up. Hannibal however would not stay locked up. In the previous novel 'Silence of the Lambs' Hannibal escaped during a transfer from his cell in Baltimore to an institution Memphis. He lived a quiet and secluded live after escaping, he'd been careful, and had never been tracked. He had been careless when he sent a letter to Clarice. During a drugs raid Clarice shot drug baron Evelda Drumgo after she shot an officer.

Evelda was holding a baby and the media did not publicize well the shooting of a woman clutching a baby. It was this that alerted Hannibal to Clarice's misfortunes and lead him to sending the letter that would revel his location and eventually lead to his capture. His capture was not by authorities but by Mason Verger, Hannibal's only surviving victim who now needs a respirator to live and can very rarity leave his chamber. Mason did not have him captured to hand over the authorities but to have his face eaten by pigs like mason had his face eaten off by dogs. Before Mason had a chance to have Hannibal's face eaten off Clarice Starling breaks into the barn, proceeds to rescue Hannibal but unfortunately before she can rescue him she is shot in the back with a tranquilizer several times and Hannibal has to rescue her. Hannibal takes her back to his home to recover and by the time she is recovered her and Hannibal get along well and she ends up living with him in a mansion in Italy but not after Hannibal and Clarice make a dinner of Mr. Krendler, a man who tried to halt Clarice's career at every opportunity...

It is on how the writer revels the darker side of Hannibal that I would like to concentrate this essay. The writer, Thomas Harris, uses many techniques to help revel and explain the dark side of Hannibal although he does enlighten us to the lighter side and his life before he was uncovered as a homicidal psychopath. In a letter sent to Clarice from Hannibal after the shooting insolent Hannibal explains that he has followed her public humiliation closely and describes how similar they are, but not in as few words. Dear Clarice I have followed with enthusiasm the course of your disgrace and public shaming. My own never bothered me, except for the inconvenience of being incarcerated, but you may lack perspective As well as showing his obsession with Clarice it shows that he believes they are similar than she may want to believe by comparing his crimes to her, what is essentially self Defense, shooting of Evelda Drumgo. He also shows no remorse for his crimes, he saw imprisonment as an inconvenience rather than punishment.

In this same letter he also offers some comfort to Clarice, by blaming her entrance into the FBI on her fathers ambitions for her and questions why she is even there. Your father, Clarice, was a night watchman. Your mother was a chambermaid. Was your big federal career their hope or yours? How much would your father bend to get along in a stale bureaucracy? How many buttocks would he kiss?

Did you ever see your life see him toady or flown? Have your supervisors demonstrated any values, Clarice? How about your parents did they demonstrate any values? If so, are those values the same? As well as questioning her, her parents, and her values and whether her career is her dream he also asks her if she has lived up to there expectations. A question she cannot answer.

Later on in the book, in section II, the setting moves to Florence where Hannibal now lives. Hannibal takes a job as the curator the Uffizi art gallery after the former curator dispersed. He assumes the name of Dr. Fell and fits in well with the art community due to his excellent Italian and strong interest in art and other fine things live wine and truffles. These expensive habits would eventually give him away especially since he would never do without them. 'Atrosious Torture Instruments' the title of an exposition that 'Dr. Fell' frequently visits. It is not so much the exhibits that interest him, it's more the air of evilness that has been artificially created for 6 months that attracts him.

The exposition of Atrosious Torture Instruments could not fail to appeal to a connoisseur of the worst in man kind. But the essence of the worst, the true asafetida of the human spirit, is not found in the iron maiden or the whetted edge; x Elemental Ugliness is found in the faces of the crowd. This quote shows that Hannibal is worse than the worst on humankind, most visitors look round the exhibits and leave, Hannibal stays still and takes in the evilness of the expo. In chapter twenty-one the person changes. It changes from the third person to the first as 'we' take a trip into Hannibal's apartment. This chapter gives us an insight into the every day life of Hannibal.

He plays with his eyes closed. No need for sheet music. Before him on the lyre shaped-music of the clavier is a copy of the trash tabloid the National Tattler. It is folded to show only the face on the front page, the face of Clarice Starling Although this does not show his dark side, it does show that even when he is playing the Clavier he is thinking of Clarice. Pazzi a police officer who had been disgraced after a false arrest of a man he thought was a murderer.

While he was visiting Atrosious Torture Instruments he saw Dr. Fell standing beneath two torture cages and on his way out he saw a poster offering a reward for the capture of Hannibal and showed a photo of him. They were not identical but Pazzi realized that must have had collagen implants. Pazzi called the number only because if he handed Hannibal to the authorities he would not be eligible for the reward. After careful consideration he decided to take the bounty on Hannibal's head. But first he would need proof that it was Hannibal and then a way to capture him.

He used the fact that Hannibal was violent when provoked and used the services of a skilled pickpocket currently in prison. His plan was to have her wear a large silver bracelet and botch up a pickpocket attempt so that he would grab her wrist and get hid fingerprints. Pazzi got his fingerprints but only after three attempts and one of Masons men being killed. He then sent the bracelet to Mason where he verified that it belonged to Hannibal.

Next Pazzi had to catch him, his plan was to stay behind after a talk given by Dr. Fell with the pretense to help him clear up and then to smother him with ether. However, Dr. Fell also had another reason to let Pazzi stay behind. He knew that Pazzi was on to him and he was not going to have his cover blown. On a related subject Signore Pazzi, I must confess to you: I'm giving serious thought to eating your wife. This is how Hannibal announced to Pazzi that he had a very short time to live. Hannibal did not just kill him and have it done with that is not his style.

Pazzi was bound to a large hand trolley and forced to listen to a lecture about how Hannibal discovered his plot to sell him. While at the same time Hannibal is tying a noose in a piece of floor cleaner cable with the traditional thirteen coils. Flash of the harpy up Pazzi's front 1/4 Pazzi jerked head-up, his neck broke and his bowls fell out. Pazzi and his appendage swinging and spinning before the rough wall of the floodlight palace, jerking in posthumous spasms but not choking, dead, his shadow thrown huge on the wall by floodlights, swinging with his bowels hanging below him in a shorter quicker arc. This shows how evil Hannibal is, he was not just content with killing Pazzi but he had to hang him just like his ancestor had been hundreds of years ago. This also shows how intelligent Hannibal is, he did not just kill Pazzi whenever there was a chance.

He researched into the history of the Pazzi family and found a way of killing Pazzi that suited his family history. Hannibal, having found out about the large bounty on his head thanks Mason. Dear Mason Thank you for posting such a large bounty on me. I wish you would increase it. Actually, I am writing to refresh your memory on your former nose.

In your inspirational interview the other day in the Lades' home journal you claim that you fed your nose as well as the rest of your face to the pooches, skippy and spot, all w aggy at your feet. Not so: you ate the nose yourself, for refreshment... -'Tastes like chicken' was your comment at the time. Not only does this quote show that he takes some sort of pride in his reputation and that he is disappointed that Mason does not value his capture higher. It shows that he takes great pleasure in killing people maybe even more so when they live and he can taunt them and threaten to finish the job as this next quote shows. You must avoid the new strains of pneumonia.

You " re very susceptible and prone you are (and will remain). Hannibal is not directly telling him he is going to kill him, but it is obvious that if he does kill him it will be more subtle than most on his other killings. Hannibal now proceeds to move back to America. It is not a smooth trip as he is forced to sit in economy next a screaming little child who ends up eating Hannibal's lunch that he packed specially so he does not have to eat the plastic they serve. When he gets back to the US he has to go shopping for some necessities like a picnic basket, knives and a crossbow. He has to go to a knife fair to get the knives where he runs into some police officers but manages to get away.

Clarice' birthday is coming up. And Hannibal is not sure whether or not to get her a present. He was thinking of a bottle of Chateau d'Yquem from her birth year. But before he has a chance to deliver it he is captured by Masons men.

The capture goes wrong although they still get him Clarice and several other people witnessed the abduction. Clarice has to go to a disciplinary hearing with the charge of divulging information to a known felon. She is suspended, only because there are inconsistencies in the case against her. The add that she placed in a paper was signed Hannah, the name of Clarice's childhood horse, a name that the CIA should not have known to look for.

Hannibal is kept captive for a few days before Mason thinks the time is right to have the pigs eat him. The plan is to feed his feet and lower legs to them one day and leave him overnight in as much pain as possible. Then have the pigs eat hid face the following day and then the rest of him. Hannibal is about to be lowered feet first into the pig pen when Clarice bursts in the door and subdues the Sardinians and proceeds to free Lecter when she is hit in the back with a dart and knocked out.

Hannibal carries her to the Mustang parked in a lane and drives her to his house. After a long recovery period Clarice in well under the spell of Hannibal. They would sit sometimes all night talking. Hannibal was very much smarter than Clarice and teacher her many things including Italian. The next person Hannibal kills is not for his personal vengeance but for Clarice. Mr. Krender a director of the FBI who had always tried to halt Clarice's career and was responsible for her being suspended.

As usual he does not just straight forward kill him, this time it is much more gruesome. Carefully using both hands, Dr. Lecter lifted of the top of Krendlers head 1/4 the pinky-gray of Krendlers brain was visibly above his truncated scull 1/4 with an instrument resembling a tonsil spoon, Dr. Lecter removed a slice of Krendler's prefrontal lobe, then another, until he had four 1/4 the doctor brought the firmed slices to a plate, dredged them lightly in seasoned flour, and then into fresh brioche crumbs 1/4 quickly he saut " end the slices until they were just brown on each side 1/4 'How is it?' Krender asked 1/4 'Really excellent's starling said This shows how Hannibal mixed his taste for the finer things with his taste for killing and eating people. It also shows that Clarice had learned to like the same things as Hannibal, even the brain of a man she detested. In conclusion Hannibal has stayed one of the consistent characters throughout the book changing very little but the author twists our view of him to make us forget about the prevalent evilness of him by uniting him with Clarice, someone who changes throughout the book.

This makes us look at him as one of the nicer characters. I would agree with my argument the way in which Hannibal is characterized revels more about the extent of his crimes while showing us the other side of him, the side which enjoys truffles and Ch^a teau Petrus.