Hannibal :: essays research papers

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.