Above left: Lecter's second meal served to him in Memphis. The silver tray and white napkin indicate that this is, ostensibly, a symbolical Passover meal. However, note that no bread is served with the meal. The meal served to Lecter also (ostensibly) represents a Lord's Supper, but again, no bread is served with it, which is unlike a normal Lord's Supper. Above right: Officer Boyle's blood spattered on the floor of Lecter's Memphis cell. In addition to being a city in the state of Tennessee, Memphis was also the name of a city in ancient Egypt. Note that Lecter drank the liquid provided with the meal, as indicated by the empty cup.
As discussed in part 10 of thits analysis, some of the things that we see in the scene that takes place in Memphis, Tennessee suggest the Passover. More specifically, Lecter's prisoner number there, 'B5160-8', is a reference to Deuteronomy 16 of the bible, which is a passage concerning how to conduct the Passover service. Also, the second meal served to Lecter in Memphis is served on a silver tray with white napkin, indicating the Passover meal. The purpose of this post is to go into detail on the events in Memphis and what they mean.
As described in the Old Testament of the bible, in the book of Exodus (chapters 7-12), ten plagues were visited on Egypt, by God, so that Pharaoh would release the Israelites from slavery and let them leave the country. The first nine plagues included, among other things, locusts and hail. None of these convinced Pharaoh to free the Israelites. The tenth and final plague of Egypt was the death of all Egyptian firstborn — no one escaped, from the lowest servant to Pharaoh's own firstborn son, including firstborn of livestock.
The Torah, the most sacred of Jewish writings, indicates that the Israelite households were spared from this last plague by following God's instructions to each family to sacrifice the Paschal lamb, mark their doorpost with the lamb's blood, and eat the roasted sacrifice together with matza in a celebratory feast. The Torah describes the Angel of Death as actually passing through Egypt to kill all firstborn, but passing over (hence 'Passover') houses that had the sign of lamb's blood on the doorpost. It was this plague that resulted in Pharaoh finally relenting, and sending the Israelites away at whatever terms they wished.[a]
In The Silence of the Lambs, the killing and 'crucifixion' of Officer Boyle in Memphis, by Hannibal Lecter, represents the sacrifice of the Passover's Paschal lamb. Boyle's blood is spattered on the floor of the cell when he is killed, and this means that Lecter hopes the 'angel of death' (Clarice Starling) will pass over this 'door' to the underworld, where Gumb, representing Lecter's (Satan's/evil hermaphroditic Jews') pupil (evil Freemasons), is preparing to kill Catherine Martin. Lecter hopes that Starling will confront Gumb and lose the confrontation (this is in spite of the fact that it seems like Lecter has been helping Clarice).
Since Lecter tries to save his pupil, Jame Gumb, by the spattering of Boyle's (the Paschal Lamb's) blood on his cell floor, representing a door to Gumb's underworld, then Lecter representing an evil hermaphroditic Jew implies that Satan's pupil is a firstborn son of these Jews.
a. Wikipedia, 'Passover'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover.
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