This famous line is spoken by Dr. ... After Dr. Lecter escapes, he calls Clarice and says, "Well, Clarice… have the lambs stopped screaming?" In other words, he wants to know if, now that she's freed the maiden in distress, she's been able to find some sort of peace.

Can you still hear the lambs screaming?

Hannibal Lecter : You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs. Clarice Starling : Yes.

Why are the lambs crying Clarice?

When she was a kid, Clarice often watched her aunt grab the lambs from their barn to slaughter them. Unable to bear such act, young Clarice tried to rescue the lambs by taking them out the barn. Unfortunately, her deed was a failure in the end, and when she ran away from the farm, Clarice could still hear the scream.