In this sequel to The
Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal,
Clarice Starling hunts down Hannibal Lecter and they fall in love (which is
apparently what the author of the novels wanted to have happen at the end of Hannibal), and Hannibal Lecter
introduces Clarice Starling to the wonderful world of the commission of serial
killing and cannibalism, which she initially is squeamish about, but which she
eventually gets into. But, pretty soon Clarice becomes obsessed with murder and
cannibalism to such an extent that it shocks and frightens even Hannibal
Lecter. She’s always selecting victims, planning their murder, and carrying out
the murder and cannibalism, and because her last name is “Starling,” a bird,
she begins referring to her prospective victims as “worms”. And so Hannibal
Lecter becomes so unnerved by Clarice’s vicious and villainous behavior that he
tries to psychoanalyze her to reign in her ferocity and bloodlust. But Clarice
one had a negative experience with psychoanalysis, so she gets mad at Hannibal
and kills and eats him with fava beans and a nice Chianti: slurp, slurp, slurp!
(One of the early things Hannibal said to her when she interviewed him in
prison was about how he ate someone’s liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti,
and then he made a slurping noise.)
