The Instrumentalization of Drugs in the Hannibal Lecter Tetralogy
Date
2025-03-17
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ORCID
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter novels create “Hannibal the Cannibal”—an icon in modern pop culture and a controversial character who “transgresses all categories—culture/ nature, crime/ order, human/ animal, rationality/ madness” (Mizejewski 175). In this paper, I will adopt comparative and historicist approaches to explore the representation of drugs in the Hannibal Lecter tetralogy to discern how these texts understand the relationship between good and evil. In the tetralogy, Dr. Lecter instrumentalizes drugs for three purposes—vengeance, playing God, and healing traumas. Lecter’s instrumentalization of drugs not only transforms him into a complicated cannibalistic serial murderer who kills for justice but also transforms Starling into his romantic partner. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s concept of pharmakon, I will argue that Lecter’s utilization of drugs in his life journey demonstrates the dual nature of his humanity. His instrumentalization of drugs as pharmaka complicates the conventional understanding of drugs in crime fiction primarily as a means of pursuing recreational intoxication and a tool for criminals to achieve evil purposes. Harris’s portrayal of instrumentalizing drugs suggests that psychoactive drugs help to represent the duality of humanity, and, for fictional serial killers, drugs are not a means of self-intoxication but have the multifarious functions of assault, self-protection, and dealing with traumas. By associating cannibalistic serial killing with drug use, Harris critiques the problematic medical system in America, the corruption of the American judicial system, and the theme of excess in American consumption culture.
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Keywords
drugs, the Hannibal Lecter tetralogy, pharmakon
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
English
Program
English