"Aristotle with a bust of Homer" by Rembrandt. [Image from the Wikipedia 'Aristotle' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]
Back in part 22 of the analysis, it was mentioned that Saint Thomas Aquinas derived much of his philosophy from the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Below is quoted a small portion of Aristotle's Metaphysics (Ross translation) which is of importance to us:
"And it will not be possible to be and not to be the same thing...[it is impossible] that it should be at the same time true to say the same thing is a man and is not a man." [a]
The idea contained in the above is, in logic, sometimes called the law of the excluded middle.
The applicability to The Silence of the Lambs is that the law implies that Clarice cannot both be and not be a woman. As stated earlier in the analysis, she is to defeat the incomplete woman within herself by defeating Jame Gumb.
Starling reloads her gun while Jame Gumb lies bleeding on the floor, after being shot by her.
a. Ross, W.D. Aristotle's Metaphysics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924 (reprinted 1953 with corrections). Book 4, part 4.
