Hannibal Lecter Characteristics

“Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything.” – Plato
Music acts as an integral part of our being: defining us as we develop our own musical identity through our tastes, talents, passions and social standings within this area. In the case of the cannibalistic serial killer, Dr Hannibal Lecter, it is classical music which plays a fundamental role in the portrayal and identity of this sinisterly sophisticated fictional character. The infamous persona of Hannibal Lecter is one which is renowned among many due to his sheer complexity: the character’s refined taste contradicted by his acts of utter brutality. As stated in an analytical article

The study carried out by The New York University conveyed that, “Contrary to the movie trope epitomised by Alex in A Clockwork Orange and Hannibal Lecter in the Silence of the Lambs, psychopaths are no fonder of classical music than anyone else, though they do appear to have other musical preferences.” Researchers have stated that the results of this study are not yet absolute as it needs to be carried out on an even larger scale, however, the results that they did obtain concluded that psychopaths may have more of a fondness for rap music rather than classical music: ‘No Diggity’ by Blackstreet and Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ proving most popular among individuals with high psychopathy scores. Although this research suggests more of a correlation between rap music and psychopaths, the persona of Hannibal Lecter that has been created and we have all grown to fear would simply not be as terrifying with a love of rap music. Perhaps, the serious element which classical music carries allows us to take the character more seriously and, thereby, evokes a natural response of fear towards Lecter – an obvious intention of his