# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**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, 4:24pm 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/557942/41 "2010-10-22T16:24:12Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > I’m not clear on what you are saying. Explain? If a simple lack of empathy and lack of regard for the rights of other people is considered a mental illness, why draw the line right there? Wouldn’t a lack of empathy that leads you to rob a bank or con a retiree out of their savings equally be considered disabling? > [@Lemur866](#): > > I’d recommend against the classic “fall from a great height”, because you never really see the body after one of those. Only because it murders you when your back is turned because you failed to kill it properly. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:28pm 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/557942/42 "2010-10-22T17:28:29Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > If a simple lack of empathy and lack of regard for the rights of other people is considered a mental illness, why draw the line right there? Wouldn’t a lack of empathy that leads you to rob a bank or con a retiree out of their savings equally be considered disabling? I understand what you are saying now. Of course we are not discussing someone with a “simple lack of empathy and lack of regard for the rights of other people.” I wouldn’t make the case that he be considered disabled and therefor exempt from punative consequences. It nearly seems beside the point to me. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 6:35pm 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/557942/43 "2010-10-22T18:35:47Z")
I believe Thomas has Graham describe Lecter as beyond normal psychopathology. The only word to fully describe him is ‘monster.’ I voted for evil, lock him up forever. But use Magneto-level precautions. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 6:48pm 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/557942/44 "2010-10-22T18:48:17Z")
While the temptation to sequester and study him is considerable, like smallpox, it presents significant risk as well, therefore I say put him down with compassion and extreme prejudice, like you would a rabid dog. ---
**Author:** ![DPatrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@DPatrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPatrick)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 3:15am 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/557942/45 "2015-11-19T03:15:20Z")
Good Evening People. So we have a Hannibal Lecter. He is not mental ill. He is Pure Evil. There are no morals for him, and no humanity in him. There is no any reason known what ‘he’ is but best word would be ‘complete monster’ He only cared for his sister Mischa. When she was killed and eaten, the boy he was died with her. If he was real, it’s hard to say, normal society would either kill him or let him do his work. If it’s up to me I would leave him be. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2015, 3:42am 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/557942/46 "2015-11-19T03:42:18Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > While the temptation to sequester and study him is considerable, like smallpox, it presents significant risk as well, therefore I say put him down with compassion and extreme prejudice, like you would a rabid dog. Before Harris/Hopkins gave him this tragic-romantic anti-hero “only eats the rude” flair, he was a pure monster who did what he did because he wanted to. The TV version even more so. He does what he does for the fun of seeing people move to his pulling the strings. When TV Jack Crawford & Alana Bloom made their plan to kill him, I totally agreed with them even as I knew how badly they would fail. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 9:40am 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/557942/47 "2015-11-19T09:40:03Z")
I didn’t remember this thread and that I’d voted in it five years ago. But I was ready to make the same choice! _Evil, kill twice if possible_ ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:00pm 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/557942/48 "2015-11-19T22:00:52Z")
Imprison him for life. If he were killed, he might come back as a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:11pm 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/557942/49 "2015-11-19T22:11:56Z")
The world needs monsters. If we remove him, we’ll just have another likely less charming and cultured. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2015, 10:25pm 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/557942/50 "2015-11-19T22:25:35Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > The world needs monsters. If we remove him, we’ll just have another likely less charming and cultured. In what sense does the world need monsters? By what mechanism would shooting the bad doctor in the head generate a worse monster than he? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:30pm 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/557942/51 "2015-11-19T22:30:34Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I didn’t remember this thread and that I’d voted in it five years ago. But I was ready to make the same choice! _Evil, kill twice if possible_ That’s my experience, too. I’m not sympathetic enough (or at all, really) to Lecter to care about preserving his life. If he cannot be executed, I propose lifetime imprisonment, with a diet limited to skim milk and twinkies. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:42pm 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/557942/52 "2015-11-19T22:42:12Z")
Clearly, we need monsters. We create or become them constantly. Shooting Lecter through the glass, as Ekers expressed a willingness to do, would serve only to let him feel, for a time, like a Frank Miller hero. It wouldn’t make the world a better, or worse, place. Somebody is already waiting to fill Lecter’s role. He’ll just do it without Lecter’s style and panache. [Previous 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)