Above: Jack Crawford, left, and Hannibal Lecter, right, the two men who are 'helping' Starling with the Buffalo Bill case, are actually working together to send her to her death at Bill's hands.
Previously in the Silence of the Lambs hidden plot thread, we analyzed the surname of one of the insect biologists consulted by Starling (Pilcher), and, based in part on this analysis, we determined that some of the people who are ostensibly on the side of good, are actually working for evil forces: Both of the biologists, and Ardelia Mapp as well, are actually deceiving Starling and are working on the side of Jame Gumb, Lecter's/Satan's 'pupil' (with Gumb representing the Freemasons and Lecter representing evil hermaphroditic Jews). Let us now analyze the name of Starling's supervisor, Jack Crawford, and see where that leads.
In English, the name Crawford is a variant spelling of the name Crowfoot.[a] Crowfoot with lower case 'c' is another name for buttercup (genus Ranunculus), any of about 250 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae.[b] All Ranunculus species are poisonous when eaten fresh by cattle, horses, and other livestock.[c] Sheep are a kind of livestock, so if we go by the lamb metaphor for Jesus, with Starling representing his mother, the Virgin Mary, we see that Crawford is 'poisonous to' Starling (i.e., to her metaphorical child), so he must be working against her.
Jack Crawford phones Starling to tell her that Miggs is dead.
Evidence that Lecter and Crawford are co-conspirators, includes the fact that Crawford calls Starling soon after her first visit to Lecter, during which the Miggs incident (the throwing of semen onto Starling's face) occurred, and tells her that "Miggs is dead." It is important for Clarice to know this fact at this point in time, because it is part of her becoming a grown woman: the end of those days of 'sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars' - the point is that Crawford is helping Lecter with the process of 'conditioning' Starling's psyche, so that eventually, she will see confronting and killing Jame Gumb as necessary for her to become a complete woman.
As was discussed earlier in the hidden plot thread, Lecter was expecting Gumb to be using butterflies, not moths. That Lecter expected Gumb to be using butterflies is due to the fact that Crawford told Lecter about the shipment of live caterpillars to Gumb from Suriname, that was stopped at LAX (i.e., Lecter was expecting Gumb to be using butterflies from Suriname, a country known for these insects). It was only much later that Crawford told Clarice about this shipment, in order to help 'guide' her to Gumb's house. The fact is that Crawford and Lecter are working together, both against Starling.
Later in the movie, while Crawford is on his way to what he (supposedly) thinks is Jame Gumb's residence, Starling phones Crawford and tells him that she has figured out what Gumb is up to (her seeing the dress in Frederica Bimmel's closet led to her revelation about the formation of the suit of skin). It is at this point that Crawford tells her that he is on his way to Gumb's house in Calumet City, Illinois, and that she should continue on with her investigation, to get information about Gumb that will help convict him. However, the reality is that Jack knows Gumb is not in Illinois, and he is knowingly guiding Clarice to Gumb's actual location in Mrs. Lippmann's house in Belvedere, Ohio. When the SWAT team breaks into the Calumet City home and finds it vacant, Crawford only feigns surprise when he exclaims, "Clarice!"; note that he knows exactly where to go next (the house in Belvedere). When Crawford exclaims Clarice's name in the Calumet City house, he does so loudly enough, and sufficiently firmly, so that nearby members of the SWAT team, and anyone else present at the scene who might hear him (e.g., fellow agents), will be fooled into assuming that he knows where Clarice is, and knows she could be in danger, due to her having told him that she had already found out about the Belvedere address, and that she was headed there; in Calumet City, Crawford acts as if he only just now realizes that Starling's destination 'may be' Gumb's actual location.
Communication between Lecter and Crawford is what enables Lecter to speak on the phone with Starling near the end of the movie, at the reception after the FBI graduation ceremony. Top left and right: After watching Starling receive her badge, Crawford looks at his wristwatch, then ducks out into a brick-walled hallway and receives Lecter's call at the prearranged time; he had earlier given Lecter the number at the ceremony location. Above left and right: Immediately after Ardelia tells Clarice there is a phone call for her (above left; Crawford must have told Ardelia to tell Clarice about the call), Crawford (standing in center, facing Clarice) calls Clarice aside to speak with her briefly;[d] he then leaves before Clarice picks up the phone (above right). If Crawford had stayed around instead of leaving the reception, Clarice might be able to get his attention while speaking to Lecter on the phone, and then Jack would be in a awkward situation. As an aside, we will see later in the hidden plot thread that Ardelia is working for both Crawford and Gumb; she is committed to neither man, but is instead an opportunist. It must have been she who told Crawford, that Gumb was living in Belvedere.
The plan arranged between Lecter and Crawford began to be put into place when Crawford first sent Starling to interview Lecter - the reason he sends her, a trainee, rather than a 'full' FBI agent, is because he has recognized Starling as the angel of death (recall that he taught one of her classes at the FBI academy), and he knows she has to be killed. In a sense, Crawford is functioning as a 'double' for Lecter with regard to his serving as a father figure for Starling - since Lecter is imprisoned, he (Lecter) needs someone 'on the outside' who can help carry forward Starling's process of maturation. It becomes evident that the 'phony offer' that supposedly came from Senator Martin, was instead actually part of a plan set up by Lecter and Crawford, designed to prompt Martin into doing something: The plan was to have a real transfer initiated, then for Lecter to use the transfer as an opportunity to escape; and this plan succeeds. (Crawford only pretended to be surprised when he found out that Lecter was to be transferred).
a. Ancestry, Crawford Family History: Crawford Name Meaning. Web, n.d. URL = http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=crawford.
b. 'buttercup'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 02 May. 2016. URL = http://www.britannica.com/plant/buttercup.
c. Wikipedia, 'Ranunculus'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranunculus.
d. Only a moment after Crawford calls Clarice aside, Ardelia looks in Jack's direction with a facial expression indicating that she is somewhat offended; she is surprised that Jack would want to speak with Starling while not in her presence. The fact that Jack wants to do so, is an indication that he knows Ardelia is working with Gumb (in addition to working for himself) - he doesn't want Ardelia to hear what he has to say to Clarice.
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