In The Future of an Illusion, Freud refers to cannibalism as one of the "instinctual wishes." And in an interview with Anthony Hopkins, the loathsome (but spellbinding) antagonist of the Hannibal Lecter franchise, the actor opines that "we are fascinated by the darkness in ourselves . . . fascinated by the shadow . . . fascinated by the bogeyman."

Could this be so because, at bottom, we're all more or less repressed cannibals? Did we perhaps need to become civilized in order to transcend what may have been primally ingrained in us–in our very DNA?

And is this, at last, how we've managed over time to keep from devouring each other–and to live in, well, relative peace? . . .

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/201103/is-cannibalism-in-our-dna-part-3-3