The Reality of Dragons
Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed- G. K Chesterton
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun by William Blake
It was while reading the Red Dragon by Thomas Harris that I heard this quote for the first time. It was while watching an episode of Criminal Minds, and I thought it was ironic and synchronistic that I was reading the novel that really started the popularity of the “psychological profiler” in film and TV. I also found that this quote rung true for the novel. This tale about the horror of personality is really a fairy tale story retold, albeit one for grown-ups, but maybe they(yes, I use “they” because I don’t think I will ever consider myself grown-up) are the ones that need to remember fairy tales the most.
This story definitely falls under the horror of personality horror type, even though it would be easy to make it a “creature” story and therefore a horror by reduction. I say “creature “ because at first it appears that the killer, Dolarhyde, is a monster from the beginning, a totally incomprehensible Other. However as the story progresses we learn that Dolarhyde has a monster fighting within him, that at first he embraces, then tries to fight, but ultimately succumbs to; this makes the story a horror of personality.
Despite the story’s modern setting, it is still an ancient dragon-slaying tale. It teaches grown-ups a few things that they have forgotten; one being, just because the good wins the day, it does not mean a terrible price must not be paid by the hero. The protagonist, Graham, ultimately wins against the Red Dragon, but he pays a terrible price in the battle against him. In the end he ends up losing his face(identity), his inner-peace(mind) and puts a strain on the love in his marriage, a marriage that had brought him (soul) back from a previous abyss.This utter annihilation is standard fare for the horror genre, but more closely relates to the horror of Armageddon ( a type of horror we have yet to discuss) than the horror of personality, but this is not an inconsistency. We must understand that the Red Dragon series depicted by William Blake, the paintings that inspire Dolarhyde, represent the Beast of the Apocalypse, thus the Armageddon theme is appropriate.
The story is also full of some interesting post-modern and humanist themes. The villain of the story sees himself as the Red Dragon incarnate. He feels he is becoming a “super-natural” being, but he is pitted against William Graham, a regular human, a psychological profiler. In the end the “super-natural” is defeated by human science and human forces. This whole idea smacks of humanism and the ability for Man to overcome anything. The post-modernism comes to us from a surprising source, Hannibal Lecter. Lecter plays only a small role in this story, however, the author uses him magnificently. At one point in the story Graham has to consult Hannibal, the killer he put behind bars, and who very nearly killed him. This consultation happens for two reasons, first to see if there is any insight Hannibal can give him, an attempt to have a monster explain the monster. The second is to put Graham into the mind-set he requires to profile the criminal. This use of criminal insanity to fight crime is something that would not have been found in a structured modernist theme. Only post-modernism, in its search for any idea to grab a hold of and use it to make some kind of good, could conceive of that idea.
In the end, while it may not be a happily ever after, Red Dragon accomplishes what G. K Chesterton told us a story about dragons is for, it gives us hope in a world where it feels that all hope is lost,and most important of all that the dragons can be slain. The story gives humanism a boost, that humans can accomplish great things, but it also levels a warning to that very humanism that should leave us horror struck: In its greatness humanism has forgotten the first part of Chesterton’s message: Dragons are real.
Horror Struck 