# Hannibal Lecter: mentally ill or just evil? Plus, if he were real, what would you want done with him **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942 "2010-10-21T21:52:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/1 "2010-10-21T21:52:32Z")
In either _Red Dragon_ or _The Silence of the Lambs_,\* everyone’s favorite cannibal psychiatrist protests against being called insane; and, frankly, I don’t believe he was legally insane, no matter what the fictional court thought. He clearly understood the nature and quality of his acts, and I don’t think he was incapable of controlling his dark urges either. He just didn’t give a shit about anything but himself and his palate. The truest sentiment in the books was one he expressed to Will Graham: it was insane to lock up him, as a rational society would either kill him or let him work. Anyway … such is the subject of this thread. Poll coming, but don’t let that restrain you. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/2 "2010-10-21T21:56:29Z")
Well, I would classify him as a somewhat extreme foodie. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/3 "2010-10-21T21:59:07Z")
I agree with \*\*Skald \*\*. Not insane by legal standards. He’s clearly capable of appreciating the wrongful nature of his conduct. Then again, as we say in this part of the country, that boy ain’t quite right, either. Normal people do not eat other people, with or without fava beans and wine. Definitely evil. Think he is probably Neutral Evil, with Lawful tendencies, in that he follows his own “code”. Only reasonable thing to do with him after his conviction is to shoot him in the head. Rehabilitation isn’t possible for someone like that. He’s dangerous if free…moreso than a rabid dog. Holding him for life wastes taxpayer dollars better spent elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/4 "2010-10-21T22:01:34Z")
He doesn’t have any pathology that I’m aware of. He’s one crazy motherfucker, but not _crazy_. Prison for life with no possibility of parole. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/5 "2010-10-21T22:02:39Z")
Kill him. He is not going to help solve crimes: he knew exactly who Buffalo Bill was and yet played rather than giving the info; he disfigured a nurse and tried to have [Edward Norton’s character] killed from his prison cell. He’s dangerous every minute he keeps breathing- kill him, and worry if he was insane or not later. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/6 "2010-10-21T22:05:52Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I agree with \*\*Skald \*\*. Not insane by legal standards. He’s clearly capable of appreciating the wrongful nature of his conduct. Then again, as we say in this part of the country, that boy ain’t quite right, either. Normal people do not eat other people, with or without fava beans and wine. > > Definitely evil. Think he is probably Neutral Evil, with Lawful tendencies, in that he follows his own “code”. > . I was going to pretend that neither _Hannibal_ nor _Hannibal Rising_ existed for purposes of this thread, but since I forgot to put the footnote in the OP I shan’t. Hannibal is not Lawful Evil. His brainwashing and rape of Starling in _Hannibal_ shows why he is not; so does his threat against the Italian policeman’s wife. He broke even his own rules there, not to mention his promise not to come after Starling unless she came after him. And she was clearly at Verger’s to _rescue_ him. _Tacky_ behavior. The tacky remark isn’t quite a joke, though I expect only **Oak** will understand why. > [@Sampiro](#): > > [Edward Norton’s character] Will Graham. And I’d let the Red Dragon live before I let Lecter live. HE was genuinely nuts, not to mention that he was trying to stop. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/7 "2010-10-21T22:07:31Z")
He knows the difference between right and wrong, but he just doesn’t care. He’s out for his own jollies and damn the rest of us. That’s the definition of evil right there. Imprison him for life, as the death row route is a costlier one of the state. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/8 "2010-10-21T22:09:59Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > He knows the difference between right and wrong, but he just doesn’t care. He’s out for his own jollies and damn the rest of us. That’s the definition of evil right there. > > Imprison him for life, as the death row route is a costlier one of the state. It’s pretty clear in _Silence_ that the Memphis cops intend to kill him on sight. The officer in charge after his escape from the courtroom-cum-jail cell tellshis men to “take no special risks to take Lecter alive.” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/9 "2010-10-21T22:10:48Z")
Should have been shot dead during his attack on the nurse. The retro backstory given in Hannibal & H Rising still doesn’t make him insane. Correction to the poll- Verger wanted to feed Hannibal to the pigs feet first. And IIRC, he planned to pull out HL any time he fainted from the pain, have his stumps bound up, & then fed to the pigs again upon recovering consciousness, etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/10 "2010-10-21T22:21:26Z")
Why isn’t there an option just to let him go scott free? It’s pretty clearly established in _Hannibal_ (the book, anyway. I never saw the movie) that he is mentally ill (all the stuff about his attempts to formulate a unified theory, and how disorderd his thinking becomes on that level). He’s probably not treatable, but he’s mentally ill and should be confined for life. He can never be assumed to be safe, though he is more than capable of being able to convincingly fake being responsive to treatment. He mostly only kills assholes anyway, so I say just give him a room at the laughing academy until he croaks of natural causes. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/11 "2010-10-21T22:24:49Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Why isn’t there an option just to let him go scott free? Because no one, even on the Dope, not even in Gotham City, is that nuts, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/12 "2010-10-21T23:20:56Z")
I’d say attach a frikin’ laser beam to his head and let him go. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/13 "2010-10-21T23:41:08Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > He’s probably not treatable, but he’s mentally ill and should be confined for life. Close to what I think. I chose the second option, that Lecter is mentally ill and should be treated and confined for life. But honestly, he’d never be responsive to treatment and (as noted) understands his actions well enough to be competent to stand trial. I would be just as satisfied for someone like him to be in prison as in a mental institution, so long as he were removed from the streets. But I can’t really bring myself to call him “evil”, at least when it’s presented as a dichotomy between “evil” and “mentally ill”. He’s evil because he’s mentally ill, it just happens that his mental illness was not of the sort that that absolves him from responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/14 "2010-10-21T23:59:42Z")
Well of course we’re only including _Red Dragon_ and _Silence of the Lambs.__Hannibal_ and _Hannibal Rising_ were written by the pod person that possessed TH awhile back. I’m having a hard time differentiating between evil and mentally ill. He gets his kicks eating people so it’s hard not to call him batshit insane but he seems otherwise lucid and rational. Maybe too rational. Dr. Lector is clearly dangerous and should be shot on sight as holding him on death row or in a mental institution can only be viewed as a temporary solution. He’s a clever fellow and I’m forced to assume that even if he doesn’t escape it’s very likely that he’ll kill/injure/disfigure prison staff. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/15 "2010-10-22T00:32:14Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] He mostly only kills assholes anyway, so I say just give him a room at the laughing academy until he croaks of natural causes. [/QUOTE] That’s only in the later books where Harris tried to make him more likable. He wasn’t nearly as finnicky in _Silence of the Lambs_ and _Red Dragon_, in which he killed for sport or to improve the Baltimore Philharmonic flute section. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/16 "2010-10-22T00:45:17Z")
He’s a brilliant sadistic cannibal psychopath, one of the worst kinds. He’s personality disordered. There’s no medication or counselling that will help him. It’s best handled by the criminal justice system, not the mental health care system. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/17 "2010-10-22T00:52:42Z")
I picked the Mason Verger option, but want to note the correction that he wanted to feed him to Miss Piggy feet first, not face first :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/18 "2010-10-22T02:03:57Z")
Assuming the evidence against him is up to my standard for the death penalty? Put him down like an animal. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/19 "2010-10-22T02:17:31Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > He’s a brilliant sadistic cannibal psychopath, one of the worst kinds. He’s personality disordered. There’s no medication or counselling that will help him. > > It’s best handled by the criminal justice system, not the mental health care system. I believe Qadgop has it correct here. For those saying that he knows right and wrong you’re only partially there. Hannibal Lector realizes the definitions that OTHERS have for right and wrong. He either disagrees or does not believe he falls under them. He is a true psychopath. He’s one who is not, never can be, and has no interest in, greater human society. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942/20 "2010-10-22T02:29:11Z")
How about he’s evil AND nuts? Lecter if anyone would meet the criteria for ultimate penalty - he DID it, we KNOW for a fact that he did it, he knows it’s against all of society’s values, he’s not repentant, he’ll do it again if given the chance. And since \*\*Skald \*\*now has included _Hannibal_ in the Canon, he will actively recruit others into this twisted life (destroying their normal selves in the process). Either throw away the key or throw away the body (either way have him spend his remaining lifetime with his head up an MRI or PET machine, see if we can figure out WTF is going on). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-lecter-mentally-ill-or-just-evil-plus-if-he-were-real-what-would-you-want-done-with-him/557942.md?page=2)