Both in the novels and film adaptations Lecter’s villainy is frequently overshad-owed. The readers and viewers are encouraged to focus on the humanized side
of his character rather than the psychotic one, which can be achieved by em-phasizing his devotion to a female character. By means of that, the monster is humanized and perceived as a more likeable character. In the case of Hannibal Lecter, it is Clarice Starling, a young FBI agent, who gains his interest and, perhaps, even steals his heart.
The readers and viewers first meet Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. Back then, she is a student at the FBI Academy, hoping that one day she will work at the Behavioral Science Unit. She has been selected by Jack Crawford to interview Lecter with regard to Buffalo Bill crimes and from the very beginning Starling becomes the doctor’s object of fascination. He responds to her questions, but only “quid pro quo,” always wanting to hear something about Starling’s hidden secrets and fears. During one of their conversation he says: “I think it would be quite something to know you in private life” (The Silence of the Lambs), which proves that he derives pleasure from their meetings, rather than talking with her out of boredom. In fact, their meetings serve not only as interviews, but also as psychotherapy sessions – not for Lecter, but for Starling. According to Cynthia Freeland, “Lecter really does function to help Clarice grow up and reconcile herself to her bad childhood memories” (2000: 204). After one conversation, when one of Lecter’s inmates throws semen at Starling, the doctor persuades him to swallow his tongue. One will not know whether Lecter does it to play with his life or to punish him for what he did to Starling. However, even though it is only implications that indicate Lecter’s feelings for Starling, it would be difficult not to notice his extraordinary attitude towards her. What highlights Starling’s importance in Lecter’s life is also the fact that he contacts her after the runaway, therefore risking being caught. In his last words he says to her: “I have no plans to call on you, Clarice. The world’s more interesting with you in it” (The Silence of the Lambs).
While Lecter’s feelings for Starling in The Silence of the Lambs might seem ambiguous, they are certainly much better defined in Hannibal. In fact, it is Ridley Scott himself, the director of film, who said:
In some ways, I view Hannibal as a romantic tale. A dark and tragic one to be sure, but beneath its suspenseful, violent surface, I was always fascinated by its impossible love story [...]. Two characters who couldn’t be farther apart in life, and yet there’s a parallel between them. They are kindred spirits (qtd. in Cenciarelli 2012: 127).
There are at least a few scenes in Hannibal where Lecter shows his affection.
Some of them served as an inspiration for Fannibals, who have created many love clips and posted them on YouTube. Owing to appropriately chosen love songs, the clips skillfully focus one’s attention not on the horrific aspect of the film, but the romantic one.
One of the scenes which may be considered an inspiration for Fannibals involves Lecter playing the piano. While staying in Florence, he follows the in-formation about Starling’s career tribulations published in American newspapers and tabloids. One can see Lecter, surrounded by the artefacts, playing the Aria without sheet music and reading about Starling. The scene alternates between Lecter playing and close-ups of the agent. Cenciarelli writes that this particular scene evokes the image of the male keyboardist and the muse, which may foretell
“Clarice’s broader role as Lecter’s inspiration” (2012: 128).
Lecter’s fondness is also presented in the passage where he watches Starling run. While reading this part of the book, one will surely not see a monster, a cannibal or a killer. Here, Lecter is simply presented as a nostalgic voyeur who craves to see the object of his affection. Since he is wanted, he cannot approach her, therefore he has to resort only to observing her.
[...] for the first time in seven years, he saw Clarice Starling whole. Below the glasses his face did not change expression, but his nostrils flared with a deep intake of breath as though he could catch her scent at this distance [...]. Dr Lecter remained still, made no attempt to follow her. He had her image running clearly in his head. She would run in his mind for as long as he chose for her to (Harris, Hannibal 2009: 331).
The fragment presents Lecter as a man in love that is, for such a dangerous killer, lost and powerless. Even though he has escaped from hospital and man-aged to flee from Florence, his freedom is only apparent.
Hannibal the novel and Hannibal the film present alternative endings to the love story between Lecter and Starling. In the third part of his series, Harris decided to finally join the lovers together, which came up against a lot of crit-icism. However, it was not Harris’s attempt to humanize Lecter that met with disapproval. What “strains our credulity” (Shaw 2016: 207) is the fact that, even under the influence of hypnotic drugs, Starling decided to run away with Lecter and fell for him.
With regard to his image in the novel, Lecter is presented as a romantic who is completely under Starling’s spell:
He looked up and saw her and his breath stopped in his throat. His hands stopped too, still spread above the keyboard. Harpsichord notes do not carry, and in the sudden quiet of the drawing room, they both heard him take his next breath. Two drinks waited before the fire. He occupied himself with them. Lillet with a slice of orange. Dr Lecter handed one to Clarice Starling.
“If I saw you every day, forever, I’d remember this time” (Harris, Hannibal 2009: 540).
As far as his feelings are concerned, the image of Lecter presented in the film is quite similar:
“I came halfway around the world to watch you run, Clarice. Let me run, huh?
Tell me, Clarice... would you ever say to me, ‘Stop. If you loved me, you’d stop?’”
“Not in a thousand years.”
“Not in a thousand years. That’s my girl” (Hannibal).
The moment in which Lecter is probably the most humanized is when he kisses Starling. He fights with himself not to do that, but eventually his human nature wins. Nevertheless, what he decides to do later “cements our identification with him” (Shaw 2016: 208). After the kiss, Starling handcuffs herself and Lecter, hoping that the FBI will manage to arrive in time. Lecter threatens to cut her hand, but eventually, the viewers discover that he sacrificed his own limb in order not to mutilate his beloved.
By adding the romantic strand in the novels and films, the author and di-rectors made Lecter even more appealing. One can easily forget about Lecter’s monstrosity, when focused on the unfortunate and unrequited, at least in the film, love between the two characters.