The Tell-Tale Heart selection test

Situational irony is when a character or the reader expects one thing, but something very different happens or is true. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that a character does not know. Select two examples of irony in the story.

1. The narrator's attempts to hide the murder actually result in him giving himself up to the police. 2. The more the narrator insists that he is not mad, the more readers can detect evidence of his madness.

In paragraph 4, the narrator describes visiting the old man every night at midnight. Why is he unable to commit the murder for the first seven nights?

He cannot see the old man's eye, which is what he feels he needs to kill.

Foreshadowing occurs when a writer provides hints that suggest future events in a story, and it can help create suspense. How does the narrator's mention of his acute hearing in paragraph 1 foreshadow the old man's death?

It foreshadows the point when the old man's heartbeat drives the narrator to kill him.

Which choice best expresses the main idea of paragraph 8?

The narrator can relate to the old man's fear, but that only makes the narrator feel more powerful.

Select the button that matches each line from the story with the idea it best supports.

The narrator cannot escape his guilty conscience: 1. I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observation of men—but the noise steadily increased. 2.. . . I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definitiveness—until at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears. The murder does not have a traditional motive: 1.Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. 2. . . . I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work. . . .

After murdering the old man, the narrator becomes convinced that he can still hear the man's heart beating. What does this symbolize, or represent? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

This shows the narrator's insanity, and is mental instability. He killed the old man, so it is impossible for him to hear the heart beating, because the heart can't beat at all anymore. But his insane and unstable mind cannot take the feeling of thinking that the police are mocking him, so his mind starts to take over him.

In what ways is the story a model of the horror genre? Cite examples from the text to support your response.

This story is a model of the horror genre because the evil comes from the character within. The narrator/ murderer is the one who kills the man, which makes him the villan. But then, at the end, his mind takes over him, and he begins to crumble, thus turning himself in. This is an example of when the evil comes from the character within and destroys itself.

In paragraphs 14-15, the narrator describes his cleanup and first encounter with the police with a tone of —

confidence

Which word from paragraph 18 is closest to meaning contempt?

derision

In paragraph 2, the word conceived means to —

form a plan in the mind

The use of a first-person narrator in the story —

gives readers insight into the narrator's mental instability

Poe's extensive use of dashes in the last two paragraphs is effective because it —

highlights the narrator's increased sense of nervousness