In the final scene of season 1 episode 13 the song Vide Cor Meum plays while Hannibal visits Will at his cell. I had to look up the meaning behind this song as I felt it had an important meaning to it. I saw hardly any posts about this on Tumblr and just had to make a post about it.
The song is based off a sonnet in the book The New Life by Dante Alighieri. In it, he tells of a dream he had about the first woman he ever loved, Beatrice.
In the dream, a figure appears to him holding both Beatrice and Danteās heart which is on fire. The figure tells him he is Danteās lord, and then makes Beatrice eat Danteās burning heart, which she was hesitant about (who wouldnāt be?).
The lyrics to Vide Cor Meum are: And thinking of her, sweet sleep came over me, I am your master, see your heart, see your heart, and of this burning heart, your heart, she trembling, obediently eat, weeping I saw him then depart from me, you is converted to bitterest tears, joy is converted to bitterest tears, I am in peace, my heart, I am in peace, see my heart.
The song is obviously telling of what Dante wrote about, that he fell asleep after thinking about Beatrice, and had that dream. The last part is about how Beatrice died, and Dante finds peace about it. That part is added because in real life, they didnāt get married and she died pretty young. So he mourns her, and probably finds peace by believing that Beatrice loved him so much that she died since she couldnāt be with him.
Now on to what this all means in Hannibal. They played this song as a homage to the Hannibal movies, but I also believe it has a deeper meaning than that. In the final episode, Will has been framed by Hannibal for several murders and locked up. Will has finally caught on in the last few moments of this episode that it was Hannibal who did all of this to him. I believe Hannibal feels as though he has won and finally molded Will into the killer he wanted him to become. Also maybe Will is finally starting to accept his dark desires.
I think the song is representing in this moment that Hannibal has conquered Will and is now his master. Perhaps also metaphorically, Hannibal is feeding Will his burning heart, which Will is hesitant to eat, knowing that once he eats it he will become infected by Hannibalās dark heart, which will turn his own heart dark. Of course Hannibal feeding Will his heart, being Hannibal trying to control Will and slowly taking control of him, and winning at the end of the first season.
Perhaps the bottom part of the song in which Dante talks about losing Beatrice is related to the fact that Will loses his righteous self, and Hannibal is a little upset about that, but is mostly happy and has a peaceful heart because he has Will right where he wants him at that moment.
Also letās not forget to mention that this song is about the first woman Dante had ever loved, who he loved since the first moment he layed eyes on her. This relates to Hannibal falling in love with Will the first time he met him, probably because he met someone he knew could mold into the perfect murder husband. And maybe the moment this song plays is the moment that Hannibal realizes he has more than just friendly feelings for Will, even if he doesnāt know exactly what those feelings are.
And thought this is not directly related to the sonnet or song, I have to talk about how after the first time Dante met Beatrice, he wrote ābehold a god more powerful than I. From then on love governed my soul.ā Which makes me think about how Hannibal, upon seeing the potential of a killer in Will, falls in love with him, and later on how Will does become stronger than Hannibal in the end and defeats him. Whether or not Hannibal saw that coming though, who knows.
So that is just my thoughts on this song with this scene, and I would love to hear anyone elseās feedback or theories relating to this.
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