Hannibal Lecter - Silence of the Lambs

The infamous "Hannibal the Cannibal" (Harris, 4) has been one of the most fascinating villains in all of literature and film. He has the capacity of not only getting into the minds of the fictional characters but also the audience's mind. And yet, he is in less than ten chapters of the novel, "Silence of the Lambs", and has only sixteen minutes of screen time in the film by the same name. He is a villain, but not the one the protagonist, Clarice Starling, and the FBI are after. That is the power of Hannibal Lector. He does not have to be physically present to have a profound menacing effect on others. He can be locked away for years and yet his words continue to feast upon the minds of not only Crawford and Starling but our minds as well.
So why and how is this possible? What makes Hannibal Lecter so captivating? I would argue that he is two sides of the same coin of society. On the one hand, he is a genius with a "cultured voice" (Harris, 16), and a supporter of the arts. In conversation he is polite and well mannered. He is the exact opposite of the savageness that the word "cannibal" brings to mind. It is this side of him that is particularly dangerous. It makes those around him, and the reader to an extent, trust him, listen to him, even like him. This makes it easy for Lecter to show his other side when his victim lets their guard down. An example of this would be the picture of (what's left of) the nurse who Lecter attacked, "his pulse never [getting] over eighty-five, even when he swallowed [her tongue]" (Harris 12). Hannibal Lecter is a paradox - a cultured "monster" (Harris, 6).
Even when he isn't attacking people physically, he uses their personal details and memories to play mind games. In the case of Starling, he had information she wanted, he mocked her, challenged her - but it was the one moment when he did not do this when their fingers touched and he thanked her "is how he remained in Starling's mind. Caught in the instant when he did not mock. Standing in his white cell, arched like a dancer, his hands clasped in front of him and his head slightly to the side" (Harris, 231). In the next three chapters Lecter brutally kills two officers, taking the face of one to escape.
Hannibal outshines Jame Gumb because of he seems to already know everything about Buffalo Bill before even reading the case file. He easily points out Jame Gumb's psychological issues and exposes his fragility before we even have a scene with him. On the other hand, Lecter's only weakness seems to be his desire to outsmart everyone around him - that he is arrogant. This is a relatable weakness, one that the audience can understand more than Gumb's psychological issues, and so it is often dismissed or forgotten.
The differences between Hannibal in the film and novel are minor in my opinion but they are present. In the film, his arrogance is shown to us while in the novel Jack Crawford points it out during a conversation with Clarice. Anthony Hopkins' fantastic performance brings Lecter to life in a most terrifying way. I would say that the only major difference is that the moments between Clarice and Lecter are more subtle. When they touch fingers it is not as clear that is the moment when he will remain stuck in her mind. But the duality between civilized and monster is very present and I would argue that his exchanges with Jodi Foster are the best scenes in the movie. Their first meeting stands out in particular. The way he is standing in the middle of the room, waiting for her, already an all knowing predator.