A candle is shown burning in Hannibal's room at Lady Murasaki's house, just before Hannibal injects himself with truth serum.
The surname Lecter is related to the name Lechter, which is derived from the name Lichter. Lichter is a German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) occupational surname for someone who made candles or possibly for someone who tended a light, from an agent derivative of from Middle High German lieht, Yiddish likht 'candle', 'light'.[a] Due to this name symbolism, we see that Hannibal Lecter represents Jews, within some context.
We note that in the scene in the movie in which the young Hannibal injects himself with truth serum so that he can recall information that might help him apprehend Grutas, there is a candle burning in Hannibal's room (as shown in the above screencap). At the moment of Hannibal's flashback to the point at which he was rescued (as a boy) in the snow, after having escaped from Grutas and his men at the Lecters' hunting lodge, we observe that at the exact point at which one of his rescuers cuts a chain that had been placed around Hannibal's body by Grutas's men, Hannibal awakens from the flashback, and the candle, which has by now fully burned down, goes out. The symbolic meaning of Hannibal's candle going out, will be discussed in part 4.
Above: Hannibal awakens from his drug-induced dream (left), at the exact moment of his recollection of the chain around his neck being cut after he had escaped from the childhood hunting lodge (right).
a. Ancestry, Lichter Family History: Lichter Name Meaning. Web, n.d. URL = http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=lichter.
