#hannibal and vampires | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

craqueluring · 2 years ago

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lets talk about dracula

TLDR: in both hannibal and dracula, 'man' and 'monster' are uncomfortably similar. the repulsion that 'man' has in response to this grey area is a part of what compels them to attempt to separate themselves from the monster in some way. the only way they actually succeed at this is in complete annihilation of the monster. despite this, their attempts at separation only blur the lines even further between them as the 'men' act increasingly like 'monster' in order to separate them, which is an obvious contradiction. a large part of the horror of both dracula and hannibal is the fact that the line between monster and non-monster becomes blurred. this is not only in that the monsters, hannibal and dracula, look human, but also because the humans can act like the monster, can lose themselves in this, and, eventually, like will, can consciously Become the monster.

i have three main parts to this:

similarity between man and monster

consequent impulse of man to separate self from the monster. the only way to do this is annihilation of the monster

in the attempts at separation, man and monster become even more similar

prepare for a long post <3

1. similarity between man and monster

in both dracula and hannibal, the characters are able to recognize their humanity in the monster in some way. the monsters look human, physically, and can blend in with humans, but they are far enough from humanity to be termed 'monsters.' alana says to hannibal in 3x08:

“You've long been regarded by your peers in psychiatry as something entirely Other. For convenience, they term you a monster.”

and not only can the monsters imitate humans, but the humans can imitate monsters.

johnathan harker, a main character in dracula, watches dracula disturbingly crawl down the castle wall, and asks “What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of a man?” effectively, he is asking 'is dracula a man that is insane, or is he something entirely other that just looks like a man?' in this harker is" [repulsed] by his recognition of humanity in Dracula’s appearance and animalistic behavior."

despite this repulsion, he mimics dracula in the very behavior he was repulsed by in his attempts to escape and explore the castle

"While Harker loathes the “vision of otherness in human shape,” at the same time it helps him to “briefly expand his awareness of his own potential elasticity,”...(Auerbach 89). Although Harker remains disgusted by Dracula’s ability to impersonate humanity while retaining animalistic mannerisms, he nevertheless imitates the vampire’s environmental adaptability and expands his own capabilities. The interchangeability between the two existing beings creates apprehension not only of Dracula’s ability to pass as human, but also, if not more so, of Harker’s identification with Dracula" (x)

this directly parallels will's ability to imagine himself as the killers he investigates. although will and harker are repulsed by the behaviors of the 'monster' in question, they nevertheless mimic it. i will expand on this later.

so, the monsters look human. the monsters can act human. the men can act like the monsters. this grey area makes the men very uncomfortable.

2. consequent impulse of man to separate self from the monster. the only way to do this is annihilation of the monster

"This concept of [repulsive] recognition with an alien being underlines the entire novel, as Harker and the other male characters continue to reassert a form of difference between themselves and the vampire. Ultimately, their only way to clearly distinguish themselves from the abhorrent vampire is to annihilate Dracula completely" (x)

jack, alana, and will all continually attempt to stop hannibal by trying to imprison him, catch him, ignore him, etc. a large part of their motivation for this is either on the basis of morals and/or revenge, but i think a part of it could also be, like the characters in dracula, their trying to distinguish themselves from hannibal in reaction to such a repulsive monster being so close to humanity.

one of will's attempts to separate himself from hannibal in the face of this uncomfortable similarity/recognition with a monster is when he pulled a knife on hannibal in the uffizi gallery in 3x06 dolce. as chiyoh says in 3x05:

"If you don't kill him, you are afraid you will become him."

obviously will does not succeed. hannibal is imprisoned, but he is still not stopped. hannibal literally volunteers himself to be imprisoned to jack, which completely negates jack, alana, and will's goal of imprisoning hannibal as a way to separate themselves from hannibal. he is in the back of will's head for years: "[i am] where you always know where to find me," always tempting him to take a step towards Becoming. hannibal antagonizes alana in their talks, he is studied in the psychiatric journals. he is still there and he is still a monster that is uncomfortably similar to a man, or a man that is uncomfortably similar to a monster.

like in dracula, eventually, the only way jack, will, and alana can truly distinguish themselves from hannibal is by killing him.

hannibal is not killing or doing harm in prison. they have him. he cannot do anything. unless he figures out some way to escape, he will never do anything harmful again. there is no real, pressing necessary reason to kill hannibal. and yet, will, jack, and alana plan to do just that in 3x13 TWOTL. a part of the reason i think they do this is because of the uncomfortable recognition of humanity in the monstrous human or humanoid monster that is hannibal. will, though, either no longer desires to be separated from hannibal or cannot be separated from hannibal, so he dies with hannibal.

in dracula,

"The vampire hunters’ mission can be interpreted as a quest to eliminate the grey area where men and animals merge in a kind of monstrous coexistence." (x)

just as the characters in dracula feel compelled to separate themselves from dracula, jack, will, and alana feel compelled to separate themselves from hannibal. and, in both, the only way this happens is with the annihilation of dracula/hannibal. in hannibal, will is unable to separate himself from hannibal, so he is annihilated alongside hannibal.

semi-TLDR: okay, so it has been established that the line between man and monster is blurred by both. the monsters look human. the humans can mimic monsters. the humans hate this grey area and the similarities between them, and they want to separate themselves from the monster in some way. this is only achieved in complete annihilation of the monster

3. in the attempts at separation, man and monster become even more similar

despite men being repulsed by the grey area between them and monster, not only do they mimic the monsters, but in their attempts at separation, this imitation becomes more frequent and necessary, and the lines between them blur even further. so, while trying to distinguish themselves from the monster, they only become more similar.

in my opinion, the main way the characters in dracula distinguish themselves from him is actually not simply because they are not vampires. i think the main way the characters separate themselves from dracula is their christian religious values. after dracula attacks her, mina is cursed to become a vampire if she dies, and she is burned by the religious ritual they try to do to her. despite mina's almost-vampirism, she remains consciously religious, and is a decidedly 'good', and human, character. renfield is a human, and yet his worship of dracula rather than god contributes to his being closer to monster than man. so, religion, and therefore behavior, is the main way the characters in dracula separate themselves from dracula

as the characters try to distinguish themselves from dracula on the basis of their christian religion and religious behavior, and also non-animalistic behavior, in direct contradiction of this, they are forced to bend their religious beliefs and act in animalistic ways.

as for simply behavior, harker imitates dracula in order to separate himself from dracula by mimicking him crawling down the castle wall (in "lizard fashion") while trying to escape.

as for religion, mina is a big part of this. despite mina literally being burned by the sacred wafer, she is still accepted by the men, and her connection to dracula is the reason they are able to find dracula and kill him. in their attempts to separate themselves from dracula, the characters must accept an almost-vampire who was burned by a religious ritual as human and 'good' in order to annihilate something of the devil. the lines only become more blurred between man and monster as they attempt separation.

in hannibal, i feel the main way the characters distinguish themselves from hannibal is their dedication to law enforcement. the beginning of the show makes this separation very clear: hannibal is a criminal, and the other characters are working with the fbi. of course, they are also not serial killers or (willingly) cannibals, but this is all on the basis of their morals which align with and rest heavily on the law.

as jack, will, and alana attempt to separate themselves from hannibal (because hannibal is acting illegally and is a criminal, and they are acting legally and are law enforcement), they, in direct contradiction of this, must break the law, and bend their morals.

will is the first to attempt to separate himself from hannibal because he was the first one to realize what hannibal was. in prison, his lawfulness bends when he sends matthew brown to kill hannibal. he bends (and therefore blends with hannibal) even more while trying to 'maintain his cover' to catch hannibal when he kills and mutilates randall tier and willingly engages in cannibalism with hannibal. in will's attempts in season 2 to separate himself from hannibal, he only contradicts what once distinguished him from hannibal so clearly.

jack and alana aren't driven to do this until the end of season two when they realize what hannibal is. in their desperation, they directly disregard the law embodied by kade prurnell, and jack goes to kill hannibal himself in mizumono, completely extra-legally, and alana follows.

will, jack, and alana trying to kill hannibal extra-legally rests almost completely on their personal feelings, and not directly the law like before. this is exactly what hannibal does: kill people who he thinks deserve to die. they do this as well. will, jack, and alana are forced to imitate hannibal in order to separate themselves from hannibal.

by season three, will, jack, and alana are have all contradicted the values (the law) that once so clearly separated them from hannibal. they are barely even associated with law enforcement anymore.

recall the clearly-cut beginning of hannibal: law enforcement vs. serial killer. by season three, the line between them is not only blurred. it is barely even there.

alana works with mason verger, 'facilitating torture and death,' completely extra-legally. jack assaults hannibal and literally almost kills him in florence with his bare hands. not to mention alana and margot killing mason verger in digestivo because hannibal said he would take the blame for it. literally doing something hannibal would do.

it is continually said that the main point of hannibal's murders and manipulations is theater. in 3x04, alana says

"You're preparing the theater of Hannibal's death. I'm just doing my part to get him to the stage"

alana is the one preparing the theater of death now. not just hannibal. again, becoming more like him as she tries to annihilate him.

in the wrath of the lamb, will, jack, and alana (again, completely extra-legally) plan to kill both the dragon and hannibal together.

at this point, they are completely dissociated from what once so clearly separated them from hannibal. this is plainly communicated by the reoccurring sentiment that jack, alana, and will have died in some way after mizumono:

in primavera 3x02:

"You [Will] are already dead, aren't you?"

and in digestivo 3x07

"You're dead, Dr. Bloom"

"Oh, Mason. We all are. Didn't you know?"

i don't think i need to explain how this connects to vampirism, lol.

not only they are completely disconnected from what once made them 'human/alive', but, again, they are doing what hannibal, the monster, does. they are planning to murder people who they personally think deserve death, bending their morals to allow torture, murder, etc. in their minds, they think that this is justified because of hannibal's actions, and, honestly, most people would probably agree. (and there is a whole other conversation about vigilantism to be had concerning this) but fundamentally, hannibal does the exact same thing. except his bar for 'someone who deserves death' is a lot lower.

in their attempts to destroy hannibal, they only become more like him.

"Nonetheless, the violent destruction of the vampires proves that, when turned from prey to predators, humans can be just as monstrous as the creatures they are determined to extinguish. Reason gives way to instinct; and science to sheer superstition. Deprived of their usual resources to assess and repress the monstrous menace, the characters rely on their most primitive impulses to destroy it. But, as we all know, vampires never die." (x)

i think this exchange between alana and chilton in the wrath of the lamb perfectly encapsulates this:

"You were never comfortable in your own skin, Frederick. You wouldn't be comfortable in Hannibal's."

"Are you?"