"The Tell-Tale Heart" Quiz Study Guide

Read the excerpt below. What conclusion can you draw about the narrator? Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or grief - oh, no! - it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although chuckled at heart.

He can relate to the old man's terror because of the madness that haunts him.

Read the excerpt below. What can you infer about the narrator? It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed.

He is very cautious (obsessing and devoted to killing the old man)

Select the piece of evidence that best supports your answer in #3.

I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me.

Select the best piece of evidence that best supports your answer in #1.

TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? (him saying that he isn't mad because his senses were sharpened, he was clever, and he can calmly tell the whole story)

What does the narrator want people to think about him?

That he suffers from anxiety, but that he is not a madman ( he is intelligent & patient)

Read the excerpt below. Which of the following would you NOT infer about the narrator's character? TRUE! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them.

The narrator has a life-threatening disease or the narrator is probably tired (anything that isn't:- he is nervous- he thinks he is sane- he thinks he has better senses- he is crazy- acknowledges that something is wrong but says he is sane)

Consider the noises the narrator was haunted by at the end of the story. What do you infer they could represent?

The narrator's guilt

Why do you infer the narrator finally admitted to his crime?

The noises he was hearing were driving him insane and he couldn't take it.

Select the words that best support your answer in #10.

boldly, courageously, hearty, inquiring, profound

Read the excerpt below. What can you infer is the meaning of the word vexed? And this I did for seven long nights - every night just at midnight - but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.

bothered, troubled

Read the excerpt below. What is the narrator's tone? And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon while he slept.

confident (self-conceited, clever, courageous)

Read the excerpt below. What can you infer is the meaning of the word deputed? A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

instructed, appointed, delegated

Read the excerpt below. What is the mood of the passage? I knew that he been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself - "It is nothing but the wind in the chimney - it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel - although he neither saw nor heard - to feel the presence of my head within the room.

terrifying/scary, tense/suspenseful

Why do you infer the narrator greets the old man so heartily every morning?

to draw suspicion away from himself

Read the excerpt below. What can you infer is the meaning of the word audacity? I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

willingness to take bold risks, daring