4.1.2 Unreliability
Hannibal Lecter is the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France, approximately seventeen years old. Since he is a doctor, he can know many
prescriptions. He should use his ability as a doctor to help his patients but he does irresponsible thing. He gives medicine without the legal prescription to a prisoner
because he wants his corpse. The prisoner named Louis Ferrat gets death sentence because he kills many children during the war and Hannibal needs his corpse for
medical school. He promises laudanum to Ferrat as the gift because Ferrat let his body taken by Hannibal. Laudanum is a medicine to make someone unconscious so
that prisoner is not afraid to see the blade of execution tool. As a doctor, Hannibal can not give laudanum without right prescription and right permission from the
police but he gives the laudanum to Ferrat so he has misapplied his authority and obligation for his own pleasure. He even does not feel afraid to lose his medical
license in France. That can be seen in the quotation below:
“The death is consequence of what I do. I believe in consequences. Did you promise Louis Ferrat laudanum?”
“Laudanum legally obtainable” “But not legally prescribed”
“It’s a common practice with condemned, in exchange for permission, I’m sure you know that.”
“Yes. Don’t give it to him” Harris, 2006: 227
Hannibal Lecter shows unreliability as the characteristic of psychopathic personality. Unreliability is the condition where someone cannot keep his
responsibility. It happens when someone cannot do things that he should do, things that people rely on him as the obligations. He shows no sense of responsibility
whatsoever.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
Psychopath is often inconsistent. Sometimes there is no certain motive or incentive. Clekcley 1941: 340 gives explanation that the psychopaths unreliability
and his disregard for obligations and for consequences are manifested in both trivial and serious matters, are masked by demonstrations of conforming behavior, and
cannot be accounted for by ordinary motives or incentives. Although it can be confidently predicted that his failures and disloyalties will continue, it is impossible
to time them and to take satisfactory precautions against their effect. Here, it might be said, is not even a consistency in inconsistency but an inconsistency in
inconsistency. From the explanation above, the unreliability is reflected in leading character,
Hannibal Lecter. He can not be responsible doctor. He thinks that nothing is ever his fault. He wonders that he is perfect and he is brave to take risk although he does
wrong. Nothing wrong can ever originates with him, the psychopath’s logic dictates that everything bad is always someone else’s fault. He is able to sacrifice a worthy
thing such his medical license just to get what he wants. The obligation as a doctor is ignored because of his unreliability character.
4.1.3 Untruthfulness and Insincerity
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