The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

1293 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The features of horror

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

The novel The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is said to fall under the genre of psychological horror. The stories that fall under the genre of horror include a few essential elements: a villain or one seen as evil to create an initial story line. The foil is the next element; a foil is a person who tries to stop the villain from going through with the evil plan or plot. These two elements naturally lead to conflict between the two persons or groups and then from this conflict -- suspense, the last element is added. Suspense is important to keep the reader interested and to keep the story line going. When psychology is added to a story, the definition of horror is changed completely. There are still those few essential elements above but there is also a few more added. The story now has something to do with the mind and how it works, and there is really no definition for that. The mind and it's workings are a mystery to us and that mystery of the mind adds to the suspense and therefore the idea of psychology and horror are able to go together and become one. This essay will prove that The Silence of the Lambs is indeed a psychological horror according to the five criteria above along with other sources. The first element to a psychological horror is a villain, and the villain is The Silence of the Lambs is Mr. Jame Gumb. He is a white male in his mid thirties, 'most serial killers are white male, unemployed, intelligent and experience financial difficulty.';(Bonata, 3) Gumb is all of these things, he is unemployed but a very skilled seamstress, and using these skills is making himself a second skin out of women who he is able to take control of and render them powerless. He is also very intelligent but is anable to interact with other people and therefore remains unemployed. He experienced financial difficulties until he was the recipient of a large sum of money from an inheritance. 'The unconscious fear of women goads some men with a compulsive urge to conquer, humiliate, hurt, or render powerless some available sample of womanhood.';

(Menninger, 183) Gumb was deeply disturbed and unable to overcome the death of his mother and he wanted to be like her and resented any woman because he feels that he should have been born a woman instead of the man that he is. He is sewing a skin of women to try to beco...

... middle of paper ...

.... The closing of the case did not come without suspense however. Through the entire book there was some sort of suspense weather it concerned Buffalo Bill, the actions of Hannibal Lecter, or the situation that Clarice Starling was in. The last seven chapters are the most suspenseful chapters of the story. They deal with the capture and killing of Jame Gumb, the rescuing of the prisoner that he held hostage and finally the freeing of Clarice Starling from the 'screaming of the lambs';.

Clarice starling murders Jame Gumb and his prisoner is set free with a few minor injuries. Clarice Starling finally finds peace within her and is able to enjoy life to the fullest and she owes it all the Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The location of Lecter is left unknown which leave the reader without a final closing further adding to the suspense of the novel. Novels in the genre of psychological horror are said to have the elements listed above. This essay has proven that the elements are indeed in the novel The Silence of the Lambs and therefore the novel is a psychological horror. The elements listed above are found through out the novel and are just a few of the many instances in which they occur.

Show More
Related

  • The Castle by Rob Sitch

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Darryl’s life is worth fighting for. “You can’t buy what I’ve got.” ‘The Castle’ directed by Rob Sitch, about one man, his family and neighbours on the verge of being homeless. Darryl Kerrigan, the “backbone of the family” won’t stand for that. Of course no one can buy what he has. He’s spent almost his entire lifetime building what he has, why should he give it up? Darryl’s way of life is simple yet filled with family values. 3 Highview Crescent is the home to Darryl, his wife Sal and their 3 children: Wayne, Steve, Tracy and Dale. (Wayne currently being in jail.) The house is made up of love, and simple family values. Darryl’s also added bits and pieces to it. He’s added on so much to the house, his own personal touch. His neighbours, also in the same bout are almost family to the Kerrigans. Jack and Farouk are another reason why Darryl’s ready to take matters into his own hands.

    Read More

  • Mystery Elements In Josh Pachter's Invitation To A Murder

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Josh Pachter’s “Invitation to a Murder” uses passage of time, inference gaps, and foreshadowing to add suspense. Dramatic irony, inference gaps and red herrings create suspense in “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses mystery elements of many possible suspects, accumulation of clues and hidden evidence as catalysts for suspense. All three authors cleverly created anticipation in their work with mystery elements that kept the potential to hold captive their reader’s attention until the very last

    Read More

  • Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the year 1625, Francis Bacon, a famous essayist and poet wrote about the influences of fear on everyday life. He stated, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other” (Essays Dedication of Death). Clearly, external surroundings affect perceptions of fear as well as human nature in general. Although C.S. Lewis published the novel, Out of the Silent Planet, over three centuries after Bacon wrote his theory on fear, Lewis similarly portrayed external surrounding to manipulate perceptions of fear. From the first chapter of the novel, Lewis revealed fear to be a weakness that leads to ignorance. It was this ignorance that apparently fueled the cycle of corruption and immorality on “The Silent Planet.” Using the character Ransom to reveal the effect of memory and morality on fear, C.S. Lewis demonstrates that fear is a quality of the “bent” race (humans), and only by eliminating fear in our lives can the human race become hnau.

    Read More

  • Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slaughterhouse-Five: Why War Should Never Happen Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a World War II veteran and author of the literary masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five, was one of the many there to witness the destruction of the city of Dresden in Germany, and one of the few to survive to tell the gruesome details. Most of his writing was used to encourage those with anti-war mindsets to take a stand, and to inform everyone else of the damage that is done when a nation goes to war. He uses his books to remind people that war is gruesome, gory, and violent, and the glamorous aspect of it is simply a disturbed part of one’s imagination that truly does not exist. He reminds people of the visceral hatred that comes with the package of war; of how Germans used the fat of dead Jews to make soap and candles and how there was a scarce food supply for prisoners during the Second World War, or possibly any war for that matter. The fire-bombing of Dresden led to the deaths of over 60,000 civilians and prisoners of war (POW’s).

    Read More

  • Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielburg

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” by Steven Spielburg, it begins with a veteran of WWII returning to Normandy to visit the burial ground for those Allied servicemen who were killed on D-Day. He is looking for a particular grave, and when he finds it, he takes a knee and starts sobbing. Captain John H. Miller has a flashback to June 6, 1944 in Omaha Beach, Normandy, France.

    Read More

  • Slaughter House-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Slaughter House Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is a post modern novel, attempting to undermine the reader's expectations. The novel does not have smooth transitions from one event to the next. The reason is, because the novel reflects modern man's life. Since the novel is not smooth, it is confusing.

    Read More

  • Hitchcock’s Psycho and Phoenix. James’ The Turn of the Screw

    1560 Words  | 4 Pages

    The human body and mind are the most complex and intricate tools known to man. The connection between the two are remarkable, the way body feels pain and the mind is able to understand from where and how the pain is being formed, the way the body lags and drops when the mind does not have enough sleep and rest. Most curiously, it is the way our body and mind speak to each other without really knowing. It is the uncomfortable feeling in your chest, the tenseness of your shoulders and the goose-bumps on your arms that are the very basics of human intuition. Intuition is knowing something without having a logical or reasonable explanation to follow the feeling. But it is when our intuition overcomes our ability to think that we become paranoid; constantly looking over our shoulders, noticing people and objects that were never noticed before, and having this retching feeling that someone is out to get you. Paranoia is a thought process where anxiety and fear accumulate to the point where the person suffers from irritation and delusions. It is often developed through an inner guilty conscience which threatens the self. It is that exact tingling sensation in your stomach, the tightness in your throat and the eerie feeling that you are being watched that makes James and Hitchcock's pieces realistically fantastical. The alternate worlds illustrated in these pieces are not of those of dreams and fairy tales, nor those people superheroes or chimeras, but a realist world, where the minds of the characters are exposed and the only source of reliability. James depicts a young woman who struggles to be a heroine for her wards, only to be torn between the lines of sanity as she questions the existence of two ghosts, while Hitchcock’s psycho can ...

    Read More

  • How Is Hannibal Lecter Portrayed As A Forensic Psychiatrist

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Hannibal Lecter a character in the film The Silence of the Lambs is portrayed as a brilliant forensic psychiatrist, an extremely refined gentleman with a charismatic and charming personality. Hannibal Lecter is meticulous in appearance, speaks very exactly, has immaculate wittiness, and astounding intellect (Demme, 1991). Though not directly indicated in the film, there is clear evidence of his educational background as he was a well-known forensic psychiatrist which requires an extensive amount of education. This film did not speak to Lecter’s relationship history nor his childhood background. Hannibal Lecter was sanctioned to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital for cannibalistic crimes he committed against his own patients during his practice as a psychiatrist (Demme, 1991). At the start of the film it was indicated that he had been housed at the hospital for approximately eight years.

    Read More

  • Paper 3: Romanticism and Transcendentalism’s Respondents

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” depicts the human mind through the struggle of distinguishing reality and imaginary. Poe utilizes the narrator/agonist to demonstrate how the suffering of one’s perceived acuteness of senses, in relation to anxiety, leads to an unwanted culmination. The narrator labels his own nervous behavior as “disease” that has “sharpened [his] senses” (691). Poe’s use of “disease,” indicates disorder and destruction, and also foreshadows the spread and consumption of the narrator’s fear. The confidence that results from the narrator’s justified senses proves to draw him further from his own morality. By example, he states, Moreover, his senses stem from his overarching obsession and hatred for the old man’s eye. This is demonstrated by his continued distinct characteristics he places on the eye—“eye of a vulture,” “pale blue eye,” “Evil Eye,” and “damned spot” (691-693). The collection of descriptions throughout his efforts to kill the old man shows the torment he suffers from his psychosis. The narrator’s statement, “it haunted me day and night,” displays his motivation for killing the old man. However, the significance of the narrator actually committing the murderous act demonstrates the definitive loss of his rationality and morality. Poe displays, that the dark side of the mind is a result of this los...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Dehumanization In The Silence Of The Lambs

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    The topic of dehumanization has an interesting dynamic in Demme’s film The Silence of the Lambs. This consists of the fact that the Clarice Starling’s own humanity is consistently undermined and almost immediately rectified by Dr. Lecter. Lecter in himself is an ironic character since while he has no fear about killing someone through cannibalism. One of the highest symbolic forms of dehumanization possible, he still respects and guards Starling’s humanity. This character receives even more complexity as Lecter is revealed as more and more calculating and cold throughout the series, almost appearing desensitized to most human emotions, interactions and concerns. Lecter’s analytical, observant, and almost sociopathic outlook on his surroundings contrasts heavily with Starling’s earnest desire to discover the secrets behind Buffalo Bill’s identity and reasons, a desire to

    Read More

  • Lamb to the Slaughter By Roald Dahl

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    me show her as a typical wife waiting for her husband to come home and

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Yellow Wallpaper And The Fall Of The House Of Usher

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    The paper compares two short stories (Poe’s “the fall of The House of Usher” and Perkins-Gillman’s “the Yellow Wallpaper”), in order to develop arguments about the relationship between characters’ fears and the main theme of each story. In the two short stories, the characters are suffering from various forms of fear under different circumstances. Such fears include fear of fear, fear of death, fear of other people, fear of isolation, fear of punishment, and fear of loss of reputation. Such different forms of fears can assist readers in understanding the motives of the characters.

    Read More

  • The Lovely Bones George Harvey

    1489 Words  | 3 Pages

    When first introduced to George Harvey, the antagonist of the story, he immediately strikes a nerve. Readers may think how he is such a terrible character; raping and killing little Susie Salmon. As the story goes on, more and more about him is revealed and the only thing thought of Mr. Harvey is him being a evil, heartless sociopath when, in fact, he is not. I argue that in Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, George Harvey, instead of being a sexual sadistic serial killer, has a psychological disorder because he had a very traumatic childhood; this is apparent because he deals with his murders as if they were everyday activities, and he attempts to keep his urge to kill at bay.

    Read More

  • Mr Brooks Character Analysis

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main character of Mr. Brooks is nothing short of a self-made man with a loving family and a productive business. However, not everything is what it seems. Mr. Brooks has a constant urge to kill. Like most real life serial killers, Mr. Brooks has a charming personality on the outside but a twisted brain on the inside. Every single action he took was thoughtfully played out, as if he were acting in a stage play with no chances of failure. Many psychopaths portray a high IQ and intelligence just like Mr. Brooks had. However, Mr. Brooks was not a psychopath. Deep down inside, he still harvested a strong familial love for his wife and daughter, and understood the mental and physical consequences of his actions. Instead, Mr. Brooks is the type of character that cannot be explained with just one theoretic analysis. The story illustrates that Mr. Brooks was a psychotic suffering from schizophrenia and that somehow his urge to kill could be passed down by generations. With this outline the

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Book Review Lawson White

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ch created suspense. Mary Shelly does this many times throughout the book, which creates a struggle for the reader to put the book down.

    Read More

More about The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Open Document