Portraying Buffalo Bill in Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs

Eric, Eric (2014) Portraying Buffalo Bill in Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs. Skripsi thesis, Universitas Widya Kartika.

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Abstract

A serial killer is, traditionally, a person who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders. Some sources, such as the FBI, disregard the "three or more" criterion and define the term as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone" or, including the vital characteristics, a minimum of two murders. The story of serial killers are often adapted in scenes or literature. By the popularity of the serial killers, the study to examine their minds has been developing as well. A federal security organization, such as FBI, has established NCVAC ( National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime ). The department is dedicated to analyzing the pattern of violent crimes that happen in the United States, in this case, serial killing. This study identifies the character of Thomas Harris’ work in his novel The Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill was written as a serial killer in the novel. The identification includes the typology of serial killers that Buffalo Bill belongs to and the real serial killers that sharp this character. The study is conducted to giving another reference in serial killers world. The research was conducted mainly by reading and analyzing criminal cases that related to serial killer. Criminal psychological profiling theory has been significant toward the undertaking of this study. In the criminal psychological profiling, Robert Holmes, the author of book Profiling Violent Crime, introduced his typology of serial killers. here are many ways to classify or create typologies of serial murderers. There are typologies that are based on the frequency and timing of the homicidal behavior, typologies based on the presumed characteristics of serial killers, and typologies based on perpetrator motivation. Holmes’ typology is based on obsessive-compulsive characteristics of the serial killer as indicated from verbal interview data on the reasons they kill. It contains an implicit theory of interpersonal (socio-emotional) development, based upon their position in a cycle of violence. Upon completion of the study, it could be found that hedonistic serial killer is the typology Buffalo Bill tends to be and some notorious serial killers were “ giving” parts to this character.

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