Dr Hannibal Lecter: The Benevolent Cannibal ~

Can we dissociate Goodness from Evil? Are they like two substances fused together in a homogeneous whole? Or do they reside each in its own realm? If so, are they antagonistic or complementary?Every human soul, because it is human, encompasses both. It is through the work of Reason and self-control that the individual balances between the two. However, the question that painfully engages the mind in rumination is the following: Can someone balance between the extremes? Can a human soul reconcile between fundamental magnanimity and severe maliciousness?

All these thoughts are provoked by the astonishingly enigmatic character of Dr Hannibal Lecter that plays one of the leading roles in the American Series “Hannibal”.

Dr Lecter is admittedly a brilliant psychologist holding a sophisticated and spacious cabinet that is at once enticing and comfy. He would graciously and respectfully welcomes his patients who, at times, appear to be allured by the organized and ornamented workplace. Despite the apparent vastness, Dr Lecter chooses to locate his library almost near the ceiling of the cabinet, using evidently a ladder to reach it. One may stop here and think: Why does he have to keep his study books so remote? He does have the space for it in the ground floor!

Perhaps he prefers to furnish his place with refined elements of distraction .. Perhaps those books encapsulate the essence of his self … An enigma that is yet to be resolved. 

It is fair, on the other hand, to assert that this man is utterly dexterous in pleasing his guests. He hosts splendid feasts and successfully prepares dinners using exotic recipes. It is a delightful poison for the eye to behold the beauty and luxury.

But how can beauty poison the eye? Perchance we should primarily ask: what is Beauty? From where is it rooted? Can a root be entirely an anti-offspring? More lucidly, can ugliness beget beauty? If so, we shall henceforth, forever consider beauty with suspicion.

That impressively “homme de gout” clouds from the public eye a somber identity that awakens when the moon defeats the sun and night governs…  Dr Lecter is a devoted serial killer and a classy cannibal. He hosts people, slaughters them and entices other fellow-humans to mirthfully devour them. In this, he, in some way, recalls to the mind Macbeth, the notorious Shakespearian character. To his fair castle, Macbeth invited his king Duncan to a most gracious feast and appeared determined to attend on his leisure .. Only appeared.  Appearances are deceitful as we know. It is a matter of seeing through and deciphering the mysterious duality of seeming and being. The human being is not a one-dimensioned creature, what is scary is that other hidden facet. Dr Lecter, akin to Macbeth, puts forth a glamorous show of hospitality, but conceals in the dimmest angles of his self, lethal intentions for the Other. This is because in Dr Hannibal’s world, leisure begets death.

It is equally surprising to detect androgynous features in Dr Hannibal Lecter; he introduces into the bodies of his guests, an unusual kind of venom: The human flesh... munched, swallowed and digested. In this behavior, he resembles the great witch Circe, the mythological figure who dotes on the Toxic and the Destructive.

  You may be wondering, what is so benevolent about all this.. Evil, to the viewer’s bewilderment, could not consummate his whole being. This good-reputed psychiatrist is a man of extremes; he masochistically satiates himself with cooked human organs. However, his satiety did not quench his thirst for love and friendship. Will Graham, a very special FBI agent, was able to tickle the soft spot in him. Albeit met in rather unfavorable circumstances, a very friendly relationship seems to join the two. Dr Lecter, indeed, constantly confesses to Jack Crawford (The head of the FBI’s behavioral science) that he is concerned about Will, he even talks about this attachment to his own psychiatrist. He once told Will directly that he does not care about other lives; he only cares about his friend’s. Can this mighty love emanate from a psychopath and a serial killer?

Not only friendship, Dr Lecter also subsumes fatherly love. Abigail Hobbs is an orphan who had to endure the pains of losing both her parents in the same day. Hannibal emerged afterwards in her life as a loving surrogate of the father, anxiously following her case and passionately consoling her. In fact, he is seen, more than once, embracing her tenderly while she cries. How can a cold-hearted cannibal bear this immense affection for a forsaken girl?

Dr Hannibal is indeed a man of paradoxes. What is utterly puzzling is the fact that in an Opera concert, he begun to cry hearing a song untitled “Vide Cor Meum” in Latin, which means “See my heart”. Perhaps, Dr Lecter, eventually, longs for understanding and acceptance and craves for the companionship of a soul that can see through his... Perhaps the goodness in him is the norm and all that darkness is just a loophole …