Tell Tale Heart Review
What does the narrator compare the beating of the heart to?
"Now I could hear a quick, low, soft sound, like the sound of a clock heard through a wall" (Poe 66).
Why does the narrator invite the police to sit down in the exact room that the crime was committed?
He wants to see if they hear the heartbeat too.
Whose heartbeat does the narrator actually hear?
His own, it is the sound of his guilt.
Why does he finally kill the old man on this Final night?
"For it was not the old man I felt I had to kill; it was eye, his Evil Eye."
Describe the imagery of the eye (use specific examples from the text)
- "His eye was like the eye of a vulture" (Poe 64). - "When the old man looked at me with his vulture eye. A cold feeling went up and down my back; even my blood became cold" (Poe 65). - "Only that eye, that hard blue eye, and the blood in my body became like ice" (Poe 66).
Based on the following context clues Define the words in all caps. - "It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once CONCEIVED, it haunted me day and night."
- Conceived: "form or devise (a plan or idea) in the mind" - Has been formed
How does the narrator act when the police initially enter the house (Use a couple adjectives or adverbs to describe the narrator or the way he acts at this point)? Why does the narrator act this way?
- He knows he is guilty of killing a man and he is scared the police will find out he's done something wrong. - Guilty, nervous, scared, sweaty, heart pounding
What made the police arrive at the house? How does the narrator take care of this problem?
- One of the neighbors had heard the old man's cry and had called the police. - His guilt catches up with him and he admits that he killed the old man. "Yes! Yes, I killed him. Pull up the boards and you shall see! I killed him. But why does his heart not stop beating?! Why does it not stop?!"
Do the police officers suspect any wrongdoings? How do you know?
- The police did not suspect any wrongdoings. - The police just followed the narrator.
Based on the following context clues Define the words in all caps. - "First of all I DISMEMBERED the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs"
Dismembered: "cut off the limbs of (a person or animal)"
At the beginning of the story, the narrator says he is not mad. Do you think he is mad? Why or why not?
I believe he is mad because of the way he sees things, speaks, acts, and feels toward certain things.
Based on the following context clues Define the words in all caps. - "True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am: by why will you say that I am MAD ?"
Mad: crazy or mentally ill in this case
How does Poe include the reader in the story?
Poe includes the reader by including his feelings and using imagery by the 5 senses.
What does the term "Tell Tale" mean?
So, the title also refers to the narrator's heart. Inside the heart is where our deepest, truest feelings and emotions live, at least metaphorically speaking. We could look at the whole story of the old man's murder as a tale told by the narrator, a tale from his own heart. The title refers to both the narrator's heart, and to the old man's heart, and to the tales told by both.
How does the narrator create suspense at the end of the story? What happens to the way he tells the story?
The narrator created suspense at the end of the story by emphasizing the sound of the heartbeat by saying "Louder, louder!"
How many nights did the narrator stalk the old man?
The narrator stalked the old man for eight nights.
What was the narrator's reason for killing the old man?
The narrator was afraid of the of the old man's eye. "Only that eye, that hard blue eye, and the blood in my body became like ice" (Poe 66).
What sound drives the narrator to confess to the crime?
The sound of the old man's heartbeat kept beating and it was driving him crazy.
What figurative language is this, "Now he knew that death was standing there." ?
personification
What type of literary element is this (the comparison of the beating heart) an example of?
simile
