In the 1991 classic film, The Silence of The Lambs, the structure of the film is apparent, it follows the three-act structure. Also, the use subplots and transformations through our main characters, Clarice, Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bills not only adds to the eerie plot, but are stories all their own. All three characters go through different types of changes; internal, external, regressive an progressive.
The first act, or the set up of the story, begins when we are introduced to our main character Clarice Starling, an up and coming FBI agent in training running through the course at the FBI Headquarters, it continues as we are introduced to Jack Crawford presenting Clarice with a assignment to interview Hannibal Lecter, Clarice then finds out about “Buffalo Bill”, which is the subplot of the story and his heinous acts of skinning women to undergo a transformation. Buffalo Bill literally goes through a physical transformation as he hates himself so much he decides that he is a transexual. Having been denied operation, he takes it upon himself to create a female suit for himself. This is the deterioration of “Buffalo Bill”. The butterflies and insects that Buffalo Bill is obsessed with is a representation of transformation. Hannibal Lecter says he was not born this way, he was conditioned to be a killer.
Butterflies and insects are the key motifs to the movie and are a representation of transformation. Photo Courtesy of criterion.com.
Act II, or the confrontation starts to take form as the search for Buffalo Bill continues, Crawford authorizes Clarice to make Dr. Lecter a fake deal to get him out of his isolated, dark cell and the harsh treatments of the prison warden. Clarice continues to give Lecter information about her past in exchange for his knowledge on who Buffalo Bill really is. Clarice throughout the film is undergoing a transformation of her own, she is going through a progressive development as she eventually solves the case and kills Buffalo Bill, which leads us to the final act of the film. The lambs in the head of Clarice can now be silent. Some could also argue that the climax or the beginning of the final act is when Hannibal kills the guards and makes his great escape. The three-act structure now tends to break away as the plot lines diverge. The lambs in Clarice’s dreams may be silent for now, until she gets a phone call from Lecter himself, escaped, chasing his former guard in another country. The plot of the story is about the transformation of Clarice and the transformation of Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal Lecter escapes from his cell and undergoes a regressive transformation as he resorts back to his cannibalistic ways. 
Hannibal killing one of the guards, by eating his nose, Photo Courtesy of gq.com.
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