What is the meaning of Montresor’s own scream?

When Fortunato sobers up and realizes what is happening to him—which is that he is chained up and in the process of being walled into a damp, dark, isolated niche in a catacomb to die—he begins to scream. Montresor joins him in screaming, finally drowning out his screams. As Montresor states:

I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer grew still.

This a cinematic moment. We can picture Montresor lit by wavering torchlight in his black silk mask, amid human bones, almost finished with the wall in front of Fortunato. We can hear Fortunato's "shrill" screams and Montresor's screams in response, echoing in the silent space.
Why Montresor does this is open to interpretation, but given that he will soon after say he felt heartsick, one potential meaning is that he is interested in more than mocking and triumphing over his enemy. It may be that Fortunato's desperate screams are touching his conscience and his heart, and therefore, he screams over them to shut out any notions of compassion that might lead him to take pity on his victim.


It is an expression of Montresor's utter sadism. By screaming even more loudly than the hapless Fortunato, he is adding to the sense of terror that must be gripping the victim of his terrible revenge. Bear in mind that all this is happening in the catacombs, where sounds echo loudly against the cavernous walls. Just imagine for a moment what that would be like. Outside you have the joyous sounds of the carnival, with everyone happy and enjoying themselves. Inside the dark, eerie depths of the catacombs, all you can hear are deafening bloodcurdling screams bouncing off the walls, creating a wall of terrifying noise.
Poe knows exactly what he is doing here. As always, he wants to create an atmosphere that will generate the maximum amount of horror. The terrified screams of a man facing imminent death combine with the mocking screams of his murderer to create a hideous cacophony that echoes in the mind just as it does in the deathly catacombs.

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