Hannibal

History is a recurring symbol in Hannibal as it provides a context for the violence that takes place. For example, Lecter travels to Florence because he is obsessed with the city’s cultural history. In the previous novel, The Silence of the Lambs, he hung a drawing of Florence’s famous cathedral in his cell. The city is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Renaissance, a period of artistic and cultural flourishing, which Lecter reveres. He demonstrates his love of this subject when operating under the assumed name Dr. Fell. Despite his status as a foreigner, he secures a job as one of the leading cultural experts in the city. He delivers a lecture about violence, treachery, and betrayal that is very well-received. Lecter's understanding of the city's history functions as an extension of his understanding of violence. For Lecter, violence is not just an act of impulse or necessity. Rather, every act of violence exists in the canon of cultural history to which he is adding. When he murders Rinaldo Pazzi, for example, he does so in a manner that pays tribute to Pazzi's ancestors. Lecter playfully mimics a centuries-old execution to amuse himself and to give some kind of historical validation and intrigue to an otherwise unremarkable murder. There were many ways in which Lecter could have killed Pazzi, but the historical context of the murder symbolizes Lecter's own personal relationship with violence as an art form, with its own history.

In Hannibal, history tends to occur in cycles. As well as the aforementioned Pazzi murder, which is a cyclical recreation of what has come before, other characters engage in historical repetition. Sammi still lingers in his cell, singing the same songs as before even though the hospital has closed down. Starling is forced to reenact the fish market shooting to establish events, passing through the same physical motions, but with the new emotional context of Brigham's death and her impending investigation. The cycles of history serve to trap people in emotional moments. Sammi never had a place to feel at home, so he is caught in a loop of poverty and desperation, performing the same actions in an increasingly desperate manner. Starling is forced to relive a traumatic event as a form of purgatorial torture, with the authorities demanding that she answer for a crime she does not believe that she committed. She buries Brigham as she buried her father, as the embodiment of a paternalistic law enforcement institution in which she has placed her entire faith but which is perpetually letting her down. Sammi and Starling are caught in the same kind of historical loops, in which they are forced to relive the same pain and hope for a better outcome.

Characters' personal histories are also symbolized by the case files kept by the FBI. Despite the complexity and the nuance of a person's private history, their entire life is reduced to the contents of a characterless manilla folder. The dispassionate way in which the FBI and the authorities treat people is illustrated by the prevalence of these folders. History, in the context of the folders, is a series of events such as arrests and interactions with the police, rather than the true depths of a person's character or life. The need to reduce a personal history to the bare minimum represents the dehumanizing effect of the FBI and law enforcement as an institution. There is no time or space in an institution like the FBI to try to truly understand someone. Even though this is the intent of the Behavioral Science Unit, Crawford's team is limited to basement offices, and Crawford himself is pushed toward retirement. The unimportance of personal history and the dehumanizing nature of law enforcement are symbolized by the ubiquity and limitation of the manilla folder.