‘psychopath’ nor a ‘sociopath’（ Hannibal Lecter ）

The thing that makes Hannibal Lecter such a compelling character is that he isn’t a ‘psychopath’ nor a ‘sociopath’. Both Psychopaths and Sociopaths (also called ‘secondary psychopaths’) fall under “Antisocial Personality Disorder”.
This infographic gives the differences and similarities between the two types without me having to go into explaining:Just by reading this, it becomes pretty clear that Hannibal isn’t a Sociopath, and at first, it would appear he fits the description of a Psychopath…until you remember that Psychopaths cannot empathize (while some Sociopaths can).

In the novels, it’s quite clear that Hannibal is highly empathic and capable of compassion.In a conversation between the orphanage’s Headmaster and Hannibal’s uncle, Robert Lecter:
Headmaster: “Comrade Lecter, I would be…careful with Hannibal until you know him better. It might be best if he did not play with other boys until he’s settled. Someone always gets hurt.”
Robert Lecter: “He’s not a bully?”

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‘psychopath’:精神变态者，其实这个词在每个时期的定义都会有很大的不同(The definition of psychopathy has varied significantly throughout the history of the concept; different definitions continue to be used that are only partly overlapping and sometimes appear contradictory.)
compelling：引人注目的
compassion：同情的
e.g:She showed no compassion for her patients.
empathize :v.移情
You empathize with her in a deeper way.

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下面是当时孤儿院的校长和Lecter的uncle的对话
Headmaster: “It’s the bullies who get injured. Hannibal does not observe the pecking order. They’re always bigger and he hurts them very quickly and sometimes severely. Hannibal can be dangerous to persons larger than himself. He’s fine with the little ones. Lets them tease him a little. Some of them think he’s deaf as well as mute and say in front of him that he’s crazy. He gives them his treats, on the rare occasions there are any treats.”
After his aunt and uncle get him settled, they have him attend the village school.
On the second day, “an uncouth and aggressive boy spit in the hair of a small first-grader and Hannibal broke the spitter’s c and his nose…his expression never changing throughout.”

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pecking order:社会等级（pecking原来意思指的是啄食物）
spitter

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Despite it being speculated that Hannibal was cruel to animals as a child, we discover that’s not even the case. Hannibal would protect the Swans in the moat that surrounded the orphanage (which was Lecter Castle and Hannibal’s home before the Soviets seized it and used it as an orphanage…talk about insult to injury) when the bullies would shoot rocks at them with slingshots and wanting to crush their eggs.
In one such incident…Hannibal stepped out of the hedge swinging a yard of weeds with a big dirt ball on the roots. The dirtballs caught Fedor hard in the face and Hannibal, a head shorter, charged and shoved him down the steep embankment to the water, scrambling after the stunned boy and had him in the black water, holding him under, driving the slingshot handle again and again into the back of his neck, Hannibal’s face curiously blank, only his eyes alive, the edges of his vision red.
Hannibal heaved to turn Fedor over to get to his face. Fedor’s companions scrambled down, did not want to fight in the water, yelling to a monitor for help. —Hannibal Rising (pg. 52–53)He had an affinity for horses (he was particularly fond of his family’s horse, Ceasar which he took from the orphanage stable after he had been gone a few years and after utilizing Ceasar in his first act of revenge against those who murdered his sister, he set Ceasar free) and liked to think of them as his totem.
Dogs seemed to have an affinity for Hannibal which is telling in that dogs have an inborn ability to sense when someone is not a good person (you can read more up on the studies behind dogs being able to snuff out someone who can’t be trusted here: Science Confirms That Dogs Can Recognize a Bad Person )And of course, Hannibal with a sheep might be a nifty Silence of the Lambs reference, but he’s lovin’ all up on it it isn’t necessary lol…but he does.
What most people don’t know is that empathy is not the basis of moral intent nor action.
Being highly empathetic doesn’t mean that a person is incapable of violence or even cruelty.
In fact, empathy…the ability to empathize with another has often been a prerequisite for deliberate acts of cruelty and humiliation.
There is a book by Fritz Breithaupt,a Provost Professor at Indiana University Bloomington…founder and director of the Experimental Humanities Laboratory at IU, which goes over this subject with examples. It’s called The Dark Sides of Empathy and will be released June 15th of this year.
From what I understand, it’s a pretty extensive examination on the subject and combines all the studies and examples I could possibly cough up here, so if the subject interests you, I highly recommend grabbing a copy when it is available.This isn’t a recent understanding of how empathy and the capacity for extreme acts of violence and cruelty go hand-in-hand. Adam Smith, a Scottish economist and moral philosopher wrote about this very topic in his The Theory of Moral Sentiments, published in 1759. It was a revolutionary piece at the time it was published and it has only been found to be quite a solid analysis on empathy, sympathy, and how both play a role on the human condition…and not always for the better.

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prerequisite:先决条件

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I’ll link you to the Adam Smith Institute site for more on that in the footnotes.[1]So, looking at Hannibal again…I feel that was always the angle Thomas Harris was going with in regards to the character. It was hinted at in subtle ways throughout the novel Red Dragon, but during one of the pivotal scenes, it is stated blatantly.The scene happens when agent Will Graham is coming face to face with Hannibal for the first time since his capture (in which he gutted Will for his troubles). Will has sought Hannibal out at the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he is now a permanent resident, to get his help on the Tooth Fairy case:“I thought you might be curious to find out if you’re smarter than the person I’m looking for.”
“Then, by implication, you think you are smarter than I am since you caught me.”
“No. I know I’m not smarter than you are.”Then how did you catch me, Will?”“
You had disadvantages.”
“What disadvantages?”“Passion.
And you’re insane.”“You’re very tan Will.”
After this Will can see Hannibal is trying to sink his teeth in so he steers Hannibal back to the case. After Will gives some case basics and they engage in a brief back and forth…during which, Hannibal asks for the case files and for Will’s home phone number…which Will obviously declines. That’s when Hannibal brings the conversation back around to what he was trying to tell Will before:“Do you know how you caught me, Will?”“Good-bye, Dr. Lecter.
You can leave messages for me at the number on the file.” Graham walked away.“Do you know how you caught me?”Graham was out of Lecter’s sight now, and he walked faster toward the far steel door.“The reason you caught me is that we’re just alike” was the last thing Graham heard as the steel door closed behind him.”Will Graham’s not left unaffected by this encounter with Hannibal…quite the opposite. The reason for this is simple, it’s because what Hannibal said is true. They are just alike.Harris putting emphasis on the words just alikewasn’t simply for inflection, but to tell the readers what Hannibal and Will already know.An example of Hannibal’s empathy at work is once again found in Hannibal Rising when he is a medical student attending the execution of a prisoner (Louis).