Top left: Mrs. Lecter hides some pearls in a mounted boar's head in the Lecter family hunting lodge. As she hides them she says, "pearls before swine." Hannibal is nearby. "Pearls before swine" refers to a biblical quotation from Matthew 7:6 in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, which implies that things (such as pearls) should not be placed in front of people (these people here being equated with swine), who do not appreciate their value. In that Mrs. Lecter is placing the pearls into hiding while Hannibal is present, and whom as we've said, represents certain evil Jews, the implication is that these Jews are swine, and something of value is being removed from their sight. Top right: Several years later, Hannibal returns to the ruins of the lodge and finds the pearls. The purpose of our being shown this is to recall Mrs. Lecter saying, "pearls before swine." Above left: Hannibal finds the tub Mischa was cooked in. Hannibal would have been better off not finding it, since it is the recalling of Mischa's death that later encourages him to risk his life seeking revenge on Grutas and his men. Above right: Hannibal finds the dog tags of Grutas and his men. It would be better if he had not found these, since they are what actually enables him to track down the men, placing himself in danger. The finding of the tub and the dog tags, put together with the "pearls before swine" reference, are meant to convey this: Certain evil Jews, who are swine, should never have anything of value placed before them, such as a tub in which a young child was cooked by boiling or items which once belonged to a wartime rogue band of murderers and cannibals (i.e., these evil Jew swine would consider these to be things of value).
