Tell Tale Heart Worksheet

1. What is the significance of the title of the story, “The tell-tale heart”?
What does the

title mean?
The title sounds similar to the idiom tattle tale and it is saying that a heart, being the old
man's heart, is a tattle tale. It was said in the story that the old man's heart was beating very
loudly and that the sound might be heard by a neighbor, telling on what the narrator is doing.
Also at the very end of the book the narrator hears the heart and this makes them confess to
the cops of the murder.
2. Why does the narrator call himself “nervous” but not “mad” in paragraph 1? What
does this tell us about them? How does the author's point of view impact the telling of
the story?
I think someone had just asked them if they are nervous and accused them of being mad.
The narrator is denying being mad but not being nervous. The narrator is trying very hard to
convince the reader that they are not mad and they are perfectly healthy. They just believe
that they are a genius. If the author's pov is also the readers pov, I think that the story being
told by the psychopath to us like a conversation, gives us a greater understanding of the
narrator’s personality and how they see the situation.
3. What do you think the relationship between the old man and the narrator is? What
could have been the reason for the old man’s vulture eye?
The narrator and the old man seem to be living together and i think there is the possibility
that they are not related, this is because of the line “for his gold I had no desire”. The old
man could be their grandfather or maybe someone they were taking care of. The old man’s
vulture eye could be a war wound of some sort and it is now a blind eye.
4. Do you think the narrator would have killed the man if he did not have an “evil eye”?
Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
The only reason for killing the man is because of his “evil eye” they would not have killed him
if he did not have an evil eye. “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never
given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I Think it was his eye! Yes, this was it! He had
the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood
ran cold.” there was no motivation other than hating his eye. “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” if the narrator didn’t see the eye they would not kill the man.
5. The two main symbols in the story are the eye and the heart. What do these symbols
represent? Why are they important?
The eye in this story is the thing that motivated the narrator to kill the man. The eye was
always watching the person, so it may have had something to do with paranoia and to get rid
of it they killed the man. The heart represents the narrator’s guilt
6. What sound does the narrator hear after the murder? In reality, what could it be? Why
does it get louder and louder?
We are told that the narrator has a heightened hearing. I think that the officers were creating
the sound to provoke the narrator, this is because they were ignoring them even though he
seemed to be freaking out. The sound could have also been something in the person's head,
and manifested through guilt so they subconsciously made themself confess this could also
be why no one else could hear it.
7. The gender of the narrator is not revealed in the story, although many assume they
are a man. If the narrator were a woman, how would this change your interpretation
of the story?
I don’t think my interpretation changes at all.
8. Repetition- Poe is known for using repetition in his work. Find a line that is repeated
and tell us how it impacts the story.
“I undid the lantern cautiously-oh so cautiously -- cautiously.” The repeated use of cautiously
emphasised how cautiously the lantern was opened but it also seems like the narrator is
praising how cautiously the lantern was opened, this is supported by the fact that they were
referring to themself as wise.

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1. What is the significance of the title of the story, “The tell-tale heart”?

What does the

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