Analysis Of Hannibal Lecter

834 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: the psychology of evil summary

PSYCHOLOGY OF EVIL: VENTURING INTO THE MIND OF A PSYCHOPATH
By: Aj Lavender

The term psychopath is defined as a person with a personality disorder that encompasses amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of emotion, and exhibits a high sense of egotism. The specific individual that takes being a psychopath to an elite status that no other psychopath is near him, his style is so unique that makes him one of a kind. This Psychopath who this description is about is Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs. Dr. Lecter was once a well-known and respected psychiatrist, who turned into a complete cannibalistic killer. The factor that grieved Dr. Lecter to be a cannibal was back in Dr. Lecter’s childhood where he witnessed his sister being mauled to death by a cannibal (Hannibal Rising). Throughout the movie Silence of The Lambs, Dr. Lecter is held in confinement giving newcomer FBI agent Clarice Starling advice and clues to solve the case of a serial killer that goes by the code name “Buffalo Bill”. The audience starts to see his psychopath ways more effectively in Silence of the Lambs towards the end when, Dr. Lecter is being transferred to a new penitentiary and for the time being is in a cage. At this point in time he is receiving his meal from the guards, and they have him handcuffed but what they did not know was that he was holding a pin to secretly unlock the lock. So the officers unknowingly step inside the cage, and to surprise Dr. Lecter releases himself and cuffs one of the officers to the cage and then goes on the eat the other officer’s face while the officer caged forcefully had to watch. To make matters even worst after mauling some of the uncuffed officer’s face he grabs the officer’s pepper spray and sprays it in the of...

... middle of paper ...

... a message to any other person that attempts to get in his way again.

As Baumeister can justify that Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a clear cut case for a normal psychopath, Dr. Lecter takes it a step further with using his supreme intelligence and wit along side with his psychopathic and sadistic mind, Dr. Lecter stands ground on being one of the most iconic fictional psychopaths to exist

Bibliography:

Demme, J. (Producer). (1991). Silence of the Lambs (Motion Picture). United States: Orion Pictures

Webber, P. (Producer). (2007). Hannibal Rising (Motion Picture). United States: The Weinstein Company

Baumeister, R. (1996). Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty. New York: Henry Holt and Company LLC.

Psychopath. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved April 04, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/psychopath

Show More
Related

  • Becoming Evil Summary

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    ”The focus of the book is on extraordinary human evil. The focus on human evil writ large is not about the isolated, tabloid cases of

    Read More

  • David Berkowitz: A True Psychopath

    1634 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... We can start community lessons to learn about psychopaths as well as teach it in our schools as classes. This will help people to be more aware and to possibly know how to help a psychopath. As an individual you can help yourself by researching more on psychopaths and notifying others in your community. In conclusion, David Berkowitz has been proven to be a serial killer who is also a psychopath and this essay has notified readers about what psychopaths are and how they develop.

    Read More

  • The Psychopath Test By Jon Ronson

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry is a book by Jon Ronson, where he investigates the idea of psychopathy and the many individuals involved. Psychopathy is defined as “a person who is mentally ill, who does not care about other people, and who is usually dangerous or violent.” Ronson visited mental health professionals and psychopaths in order to determine the right way to control the diagnosis of mental health disorders. Throughout the novel, Ronson focuses on three main themes, which are the definition of madness, unnecessary mental diagnoses and the problem with confirmation bias.

    Read More

  • Comparison of A Rose for Emily and The Possibility of Evil

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jackson, Shirley. “The Possibility of Evil.” Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Kirszner, Laurie. Mandell Stephen. 4th edition. Sea Harbor: Harcourt College Publishers. 2001. 463-474

    Read More

  • Serial Killers In Dr. Hannibal Lecter And Buffalo Bill

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were two serial killers portrayed in the movie- Dr Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill. As far as diagnosis is concerned, they both have an antisocial personality disorder, and many similar characteristics, however each has his own array of psychological issues.

    Read More

  • Without Conscience Chapter Summary

    1626 Words  | 4 Pages

    Identifying the mystery of the psychopath can prove to help the them and the general public. Early awareness of the common psychopaths among us will reduce the impact on society. Further research is still needed to better help the psychopath and the general population.

    Read More

  • The Lust for Murder: The Milwake Canibal

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Peoples ideal definitions of a sociopath often mislead them. A sociopath is classified as a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.Sociopaths are not as uncommon as most people think Your average neighbor may even have the urge to kill and dismember bodies. This being said, not all sociopaths take the leap to murder and often keep their thoughts to themselves . Sociopaths have completely different personality traits and characteristics than the normal human being. They often have disregard for the rights of others, failure to feel remorse or guilt and even tendency to display violent behavior and emotional outbursts. Even with these obvious characteristics some people keep their sociopathic tendencies hidden in shame or guilt of these feelings, but the people that embrace their sociopathy are some of the most well known American serial killers to this day.

    Read More

  • Essay On Empathy And Psychopathy

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cunning, seductive, and ruthless represent the enigma in the mind of a psychopath. Unlike common murderers, psychopath feels no guilt, remorse, or shame after committing an inhuman act.

    Read More

  • Psychopathy In American Psycho

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Psychopathy; the trait that truly distinguishes humans from ¨machines¨, emotionful to emotionless. Within the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, one may logically assume that the protagonist, Patrick Bateman is indeed implied to be a psycho as the title suggests. However upon further analyzation, Bateman is revealed to be an unreliable narrator, he does not captivate the reader with all of his emotions verbally, for they are revealed through his actions. Bateman certainly does murder people, however, clinically murder doesn´t rule somebody to be a psychopath. Bateman feels no visible remorse for the victims he kills, because Bateman lives in an artificial hyperbole of a yuppie world where no love is shown, all relationships superficial.

    Read More

  • What Makes a Psychopath?

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    Depictions of psychopaths today have become exaggerated based off of what you see in movies and films. The psychopaths in movies are believed to be dangerous or have an anti-social personality disorder. Not all psychopaths can be defined in that manner. Psychopaths are identified as people who are emotionally unstable. They are ultimately suffering from a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. There have been studies ultimately wondering if a psychopath is born, or is it raised? Genetics and environment combine to produce conditions that create psychopathology. By paying attention to environmental variables we can potentially reduce the amount of people who become dangerous psychopaths.

    Read More

  • Hannibal Lecter

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the biggest traits of psychopath serial killer is their inability to empathize with human feelings. There is no generic profile for psychopath serial killer. Serial killers differ in many ways, including their motivations for killing and their behavior at the crime scene. They will use people for excitement, to build self-esteem. In the movie the behavioral science doctor mentions that Dr. Lecter ate a nurse’s tongue and during the ordeal his pulse rate never raised above eighty-five, which is usually a pulse pate of a regular person that is resting. The calmness he displays is a shallow emotional response, as well as lacking empathy or remorse.

    Read More

  • Israel Keyes: Studying a Psychopath

    1489 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ny requirements for a psychopath, even though a formal test like the PCL-R cannot be completed because he took away his own life before investigation was final. However, he is similar to a few psychopaths that this course studied over the past nine weeks making it possible to compare him. Some aspects are still questionable of Keyes’s, like his childhood, but otherwise he does represent much of what has been learned of the psychopath in this class.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Hannibal Vs. Silence Of The Lamb And Hannibal

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dr. Hannibal Lector, one of the main characters of the story is a psychiatrist, but also happens to be a cannibalistic serial killer. Dr. Lector is introduced into the NBC series as a psychiatrist who occasionally helps the FBI with their murder cases. Whereas in Silence of the Lambs, Dr. Lector was being held in prison until he eventually broke loose. It is made clear to the audiences the Hannibal is definitely the killer, there is no mystery to that, which can make things interesting for this character in the Hannibal series of whether or not he’ll be caught.

    Read More

  • Without Conscience by Robert D. Hare

    1924 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...res of the psychopaths and gives the reader various examples of these individuals playing out these characteristics in everyday life. A widely used checklist is provided so the reader can get a wide spanning view of what is accounted for when scoring a psychopath. This form of research is very important within the deceitfulness of this population; it allows the professional to ignore their words and examine their actions. Hare made it clear that it is not uncommon for there to be an emotional and verbal disconnect from their actions. With virtually no emotional functioning psychopaths feel no remorse for the offenses that they commit and it is very important that we work towards using the opportunities we have to study and assist these populations; not only for them but for ourselves.

    Read More

  • Hannibal Lecter

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ably never recover from his violent, cannibalistic tendencies. Dr. Lecter is far too sophisticated and may outsmart any psychiatrist assigned to work with him. However, if treatment were pursued, I would begin with a psychotherapeutic approach. Dr. Lecter has few individuals he trusts/opens up to. He needs an established therapeutic rapport for therapy to continue successfully. He trusts no one. To help him cope with night terrors, intrusive thoughts, avoidance issues, and many of his antisocial behaviors, I would suggest Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), prolonged exposure, and possibly mood stabilizers. These treatments may help reduce symptoms/reminders of his trauma, that cause outbursts of anger/violence. Though these treatments may help reduce symptoms, it is unlikely that Dr. Hannibal Lecter will ever function safely/non destructively within society.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Hannibal Lecter

Open Document