Comparing The Wasp Factory And The Silence Of The Lambs

Consider the presentation of the mind of a murderer in "The Wasp Factory" and "The Silence of the Lambs".

"The Silence of the Lambs," by Thomas Harris, and "The Wasp Factory," by Iain Banks, are both twentieth century novels that portray the minds of two different serial killers. "The Silence of the Lambs" is a thriller about how F. B. I. agent in training, Clarice Starling, is sent to question the "evil" cannibalistic serial killer, Dr Hannibal Lecter, on how to find a killer on the loose. "The Wasp Factory," on the other hand, is described as a gothic horror story about the extraordinary private world of Frank Cauldhame. Frank is a teenage girl who, after being savaged by a dog at a young age, was raised for sixteen years as a boy
His cell is unique, designed specifically to prevent him from ever coming into contact with other people. "The front is a wall of bars, but within the bars… is a second wall barrier, a stout nylon net stretched from floor to ceiling and wall to wall." Lecter's violent side is also shown when he was taken to the dispensary after complaining of chest. As the nurse lent over him "He broke her jaw to get to her tongue" before he swallowed it. In response to this whenever Lecter was to be taken out of his cell, he would be restrained by "a straitjacket and leg restraints. A hockey mask over his face precludes biting." Thomas Harris uses this description to show the reader that while Lecter may look and act harmless most of the time, others should be on their guard around him. In both novels Lecter and Frank's lack of morals towards murder and the pain of others help to portray the mind of a murderer. This is shown by Lecter's "fun" when he follows the Buffalo Bill murders "like it was baseball," showing the reader that Lecter sees murder as a game. Lecter also portrays this in the way he plays with the Senator's emotions, by giving her the wrong name of the man holding her daughter