Silence of the Lambs summary

Clarice Starling one among the few women in the FBI training academy, not even a full-on agent is tasked to trace and bring down a dangerous serial killer only known as Buffalo Bill with the advice of another very dangerous serial killer named Hannibal Lecter. In the process of searching Lecter gives Starling several clues on identifying Buffalo ,the information she is given is in the form of cryptic and riddling information with the intention of helping her figure out by herself but during the transfer to the prison in Tennessee ,Lecter escapes. From the hint ,Clarice deduces that the first victim of the menace had a relationship with the serial killer and therefore she travels to the first victim’s home in Belvedere ,Ohio where she interviews people who know the victim.

In the process, she mistakenly stumbles upon the serial killer and kills him by herself. Several weeks later, Hannibal Lecter writes a letter to Clarice Starling asking her if the lambs stopped screaming, meaning if she found Buffalo Bill. The nature of the cell worrisome; dripping sound and ill lit rooms she then descents to the underground dungeon. Unlike the societal expectation on the feminism, she has come to serve and conquer. And, by her arrival she saves Lecter where she makes it possible by granting him the dignity of his profession through their arrangement in which they end up exchanging information. They then agree Starling to help Lecter recover a lost part of him and Lecter help Starling catch Buffalo Bill, the serial killer.

Another scene that displays male dominated society is when the FBI finds the first victim of Buffalo Bill’s murders. She is underestimated by her male colleagues a character that proves to be misinformed and misguided especially as an important element towards tracking down Buffalo Bill. Throughout the film, we observe the way male gaze following Clarice Starling for example in one of the scenes as Starling enters an elevator filled with men who are all taller than her. Starling later with Ardelia Mapp, the other female FBI trainee in the film Aare jogging around the camp where a group of male runners turn around and stare at them. At the gym scene wherein Starling trains together with other FBI is a clear illustration of her struggles within the film.

In the scene she is ordered out by the judge but another woman is ordered to fill her position in the gym, it portraits a woman who remains steadfast in pursuit of her goals despite higher expectations of failure. Clarice Starling displays great bravery which as virtue associated with male gender. Clarice broke this stereotype in several ways. The first glimpse of this bravery is shown in the scene where Lecter directs her into an abandoned storage unit where she enters the facility dark at night and raining with only a flashlight where she finds a severed head but remains collected this shows the level of bravery. Another glimpse is that she enters a neglected residence and finds herself at the doorstep of Buffalo Bill, knowing who she is to face, she stands on her ground and brings him down.

Another amazing glimpse is when they go are examining the body of a victim of Bill’s murder with Jack, she at first stance displays vulnerability because of human nature and as well women feeling where is upset with such acts against women but she late puts on a brave face and goes on to do the job. Her achievement comes not because of her gender but because of her dedication, skill as detective and hard work. Clarice is able to cultivate masculine traits like fearlessness and physical strength in order to be effective in her job in a male-dominated environment at the FBI. The feminist nature of Clarice Starling is double-edged where is forced to fend off several advances from other men so as to stick to her objective with Lecter who is to lead her to finding Buffalo Bill.