For those of you who aren't literature buffs, Dr. Hannibal Lecter is the main bad guy in Thomas Harris' much acclaimed novel and magnus opus 'the Silence of the Lambs.' Dr. Hannibal Lecter, in the said novel, is a clever character but a crazy cannibal.

Also for those of you who aren't Greek mythology buffs, Cupid is one of the many so called gods who ruled in the ancient Greek States. He's often depicted as a blindfolded child with an arrow (you've probably spotted him once on a valentine card, right?). And when this little kid (who knows not one thing or another about eros) shoots one of his valentine-poisoned arrows through your heart joined with another person's heart; you'll in the twinkle of a star find yourself in love with someone, be him/her a stranger or not.

Enough of the Literature and Greek History lessons, let's now dwell on the actual issues; the recent murders of ladies by their lovers: is Cupid morphing into Dr. Lecter?

It seems so. But first things firstwhat will drive a man to murder his wife or lover? I have a hunch.

I am no sociologist, nor psychologist, and neither a psychiatrist; but, like you, I have enough common sense to come up with a few street-savvy theories or logical and/or rhetorical questions on what motivates such murders.

The man who butchered his wife to death and went to hang himself, was he mentally correct? Did he experience mental problems before? Was it only anger which drove him to murder and self-murder?

The man who shot his wife and blew his own guilty head off, was it because the wife threatened to expose and shout over his extra marital affairs or there was a more mysterious or mundane reason?

I won't pretend to know the answers but I'll postulate a number of suspicions. The 19 years old girl who was murdered by her lover, did she knew what she was doing? Did she know the man she was having a love affair with? I mean where the man comes from and the sort of character or tendencies his family may exhibit intermittently?

The lady who was shot dead by her husband, did she know what she was into long, long before her demise? I mean, when they were in school and the boyfriend beat her up badly then later on apologized and loved her again, why didn't she take that as a clue to the partner's character? Why did she continue being in the relationship to the extent of getting married to this demonic man eventually?

The lady who was knifed by her husband; why did she disgrace him in public? Wasn't she aware that such a thing could drive the husband to commit murder? And the husband, how could she be a such a careless coward?

Men who beat and kill their wives; 'aren't they shameless cowards whose strength only arises because of their women's physical weakness?' I quote and paraphrase Joseph Conrad who said such a thing in his novella 'the Heart of Darkness.'