What is a short story? It is a fictional prose tale of no specified length, but too

short to be published as a volume on its own, as novellas sometimes and novels usually are.

A short story will normally concentrate on a single event with only one or two characters, more economically than a novel's sustained exploration of social background.

There are similar fictional forms of greater antiquity- fables, lais, folktales, and parables.

The Tell-Tale Heart

By Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe?

Let’s know him!

About the Author Poe was born in Boston, the son of traveling actors. The beginnings of his unhappy life were marked by his

alcoholic father’s desertion of the family, followed by the death of his mother when he was two years old (TB).

As he grew older, he was expelled from West Point, so he looked for work as a journalist and wrote literary reviews, but money was scarce.

Poverty intensified his despair when his beloved wife, Virginia, died following a long illness (TB).

Deeply depressed, Poe died two years later after being found on the streets of Baltimore, sick, delirious, and, in his doctor’s words, “haggard, not to say bloated, and unwashed.”

Edgar Allan Poe

Reading FocusMood

The feeling the writer creates for the reader is called the mood (i.e. the way you feel).

ToneThe way the author creates the mood or the author’s attitude (i.e. what the author does to make you feel a certain way).

Reading Focus

SettingThe setting is where and when the story takes place. The setting is relevant to the meaning of the text. Analyze the purpose of the setting and it will give you insight to the story.

The Tell-Tale Heart• Pre-Reading:Pre-Reading:• Brainstorm at least five things

that you look for or expect to find in a scary story.

• What did you write down and why?

• Do you believe that these things add to the atmosphere of a scary story?

• Are you scared by any of these things?

Read the Short Story

10 Minutes10 Minutes

The Tell-Tale Heart

•

Statements You Agree

You Disagree

Narrator Agrees

Narrator Disagrees

People who are insane always know that they are insane.

Sane people sometimes imagine that they hear things.

If you commit a major crime, sooner or later you will be caught.

When you’ve done something wrong, it’s agony to wonder if you’ll be caught.

All people share the same fears (i.e., the same things frighten all people.)

Characters

• Narrator• The narrator of ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart’’ recounts his murder of an old man. Since he tells the story in• first-person, the reader cannot determine how much of what he says is true; thus, he is an unreliable

narrator.• Though he repeatedly states that he is sane, the reader suspects otherwise from his bizarre reasoning,• behavior, and speech. He speaks with trepidation from the famous first line of the story:• ‘‘True—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?''

The• reader soon realizes through Poe’s jolting description of the narrator’s state of mind that the protagonist

has• in fact descended into madness. The narrator claims that he loves the old man and has no motive for the• murder other than growing dislike of a cloudy film over one of the old man’s eyes. Poe effectively conveys• panic in the narrator’s voice, and the reader senses uneasiness and growing tension in the narrative.

Through• the first-person narrative of a madman, Poe effectively creates a gothic tale full of horror and psychological• torment, a style he termed ‘‘arabesque.’’

• Old Man• The old man is known to readers only through the narration of the insane protagonist. According to the• narrator, the old man had never done anything to warrant his murder. However, the old man’s cloudy, pale• blue eye bothers the narrator tremendously. The narrator believes that only by killing the old man can he get• rid of the eye’s overpowering malignant force. The old man is apparently quite rich, for he possesses• ‘‘treasures’’ and ‘‘gold’’ and he locks the window shutters in his room for fear of robbers. However, the• narrator states that he has no desire for his gold. In fact, he claims that he loves the old man. Through the• narrator, the reader understands the horror that the old man experiences as he realizes that his companion is• about to kill him. The narrator claims that he too knows this horror very well. Some critics argue that the old• man must have known about the narrator’s violent tendencies, for he cries out in horror well before the• narrator kills him. Other critics suggest that the old man may have been the narrator’s guardian or even• father. Still other critics believe that the old man is a doppelganger for the narrator, that is, he is his double,• and the narrator’s loathing for the man represents his own self-loathing.

Vocabulary

acuteaudacityconceivedcrevicederision

hypocriticalstealthilystifledvehementlyvex

The Tell-Tale Heart• Vocabulary WorksheetForesight: Thoughtful regard for the futureDissimulation: Hidden under a false appearanceVexed: Troubled, distressed, caused agitationSagacity: Sound judgmentHearkening: Giving careful attentionAwe: A mixed feeling of reverence, fear, and wonderDistinctness: Unmistakable, clearly definedOver-acuteness: Very keenConcealment: A means of hidingWaned: To grow gradually lessScantlings: Small quantities or amountsSuavity: Gracefulness, politenessBade: Urged, compelledAudacity: Bold courage, daringReposed: To lay at restDerision: Contempt, ridicule

Vocabulary: Definition and Matching

acute: sharp, keen (i.e. acute hearing)audacity: shameless, daring or boldnessconceived: thought ofcrevice: a crackderision: ridicule

Vocabulary: Definition and Matching

hypocritical: false or deceptive; like a person who is pretending to be what he or she is not

stealthily: cautiously; secretlystifled: smotheredvehemently: with intense emotionvex: to disturb; annoy

Glaucoma: eye disease that could lead to partial or complete loss of vision

The Tell-Tale Heart (Summary

)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” Mood/Tone

Beginning—Exposition/SettingSupport: A very dark bedroom at midnight; the

“chamber” is lit by only a “dark lantern” that provides only a small amount of light.

Mood:

“The Tell-Tale Heart” Mood/Tone

Beginning—Exposition/SettingSupport: “Now this is the point. You fancy me

mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work!” (Poe 626).

Tone:

“The Tell-Tale Heart” Mood/Tone

Middle—ClimaxSupport: “The old man’s terror must have been

extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!—do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror” (Poe 628).

Mood:Tone:

“The Tell-Tale Heart” Mood/Tone

End—ResolutionSupport: “The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced

them. I was singularly at ease…No doubt I now grew very pale;--but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased—and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath—and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly—more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased” (Poe 630).

Mood:

“The Tell-Tale Heart” Mood/Tone

End—ResolutionSupport: “It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the

men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!—this I thought, and this I think.” (Poe 630).

Tone:

The Tell-Tale HeartPREDICTION QUESTIONS

Title: Based on the title, predict what you think this story will be about.

First paragraph: Who do you think the narrator is speaking to?

Third paragraph: Write down what you think the author means by “the work.”

Third paragraph: Why does the narrator treat the old man so well in the mornings?

Fourth paragraph: Why doesn’t the narrator leave when he realizes the old man is awake?

Fifth paragraph: Would you like to change your original prediction of what this story is about?

The Tell-Tale HeartPREDICTION QUESTIONS

Sixth and seventh paragraphs: Whose heart do you think the narrator is hearing?

Seventh paragraph: In one sentence, predict the ending of the story.

Midway through eighth paragraph: Who is at the door?

Ninth paragraph: What is the noise?

Tenth paragraph: What is the narrator feeling right now?

End of story: Were any of your original predictions about the story correct?

The Tell-Tale Heart

• The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart

• 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is a short story of madness and murder, and is one of Poe's best-known works. This appalling first-person confession remains as tense and shocking as it was when first published in 1843.

• The story of domestic violence is told from the perspective of a nameless narrator. The protagonist's personal account appears grounded in an irrational fear, the horror of which is intensified by the narrator consistently reminding the reader that he is NOT insane.

• There is an admission that the victim presented no threat to the narrator: 'Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire.'

The Tell-Tale Heart

• Poe was a pioneer of the short story. He defined the genre as a narrative that could be read at a single sitting of between half and hour and two hours. Its essential purpose was to create 'a certain unique and single effect' with everything in the narrative unified to serve this aim. A typical plot would have one or two short pieces of action introduced and brought to a climax, often by a twist at the end. The story is usually set in only one place. Characters are few in number, with the primary focus on one. 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is a perfect model of the genre.

• ACTIVITY:ACTIVITY: With a partner, map out the plot of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” using the following plot map.

The Tell-Tale Heart

PlotMountain.notebook

The Tell-Tale Heart

By Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart• Plot Analysis

Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.

• Initial Situation: Not insane! and the "Evil Eye"• The narrator wants to show that he is not insane, and offers a story as proof. In that

story, the initial situation is the narrator's decision to kill the old man so that the man's eye will stop looking at the narrator.

• Conflict: Open your eye!• The narrator goes to the old man's room every night for a week,

ready to do the dirty deed. But, the sleeping man won't open his eye. Since the eye, not the man, is the problem, the narrator can't kill him if the offending eye isn't open.

the

The Tell-Tale Heart• Complication: The narrator makes a noise while spying on the old man, and the man

wakes up – and opens his eye.• This isn't much of a complication. The man has to wake up in order for the narrator to kill

him. If the man still wouldn't wake up after months and months of the narrator trying to kill him, now that would be a conflict.

• Climax: Murder…• The narrator kills the old man with his own bed and then cuts up the body and hides it under

the bedroom floor.

• Suspense: Uh-oh, the police.• The narrator is pretty calm and collected when the police first show up. He gives them the

guided tour of the house, and then invites them to hang out with him in the man's bedroom. But, the narrator starts to hear a terrible noise, which gets louder and louder, and…

SuspenseUh-oh, the police.The narrator is pretty calm and collected when the police first show up. He gives them the guided tour of the house, and then invites them to hang out with him in the man's bedroom. But, the narrator starts to hear a terrible noise, which gets louder and louder, and…

The Tell-Tale Heart• Denouement: Make it stop, please!• Well, the noise gets even louder, and keeps on getting louder until the

narrator can't take it anymore. Thinking it might make the noise stop, the narrator tells the cops to look under the floorboards.

• Conclusion: The narrator identifies the source of the sound.• Up to this moment, the narrator doesn't identify the sound. It's described

first as "a ringing," and then as "a low, dull, quick sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton" (9). Only in the very last line does the narrator conclude that the sound was "the beating of [the man's] hideous heart!" (10)

The Tell-Tale Heart• Discussion Questions:Discussion Questions:• What components of a scary story were present in this

story?• How reliable is our narrator regarding his sanity? • How does Poe use images and phrases to create an

atmosphere of horror?• Why does the killer confess? Does the heartbeat really

tell the tale of the murder?

The Tell-Tale Heart• Why do you think this story has remained so

popular over all these years?

The Tell-Tale Heart• Choose one of the following options for your response

to The Tell-Tale Heart.• Option 1: Use the COMIC CREATOR at

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/ to create a comic strip with at least six blocks that summarizes a portion of the story The Tell-Tale Heart.

• Option 2: Use the ACROSTIC POEMS online tool athttp://www.readwritethink.org/materials/acrostic/ to create an acrostic poem that summarizes the events of the story. You can use the term “Tell-Tale Heart” or “Narrator” as the basis for your poem.

• Remember to go online athttp://www.poemuseum.org/selected_works/tell_tale_heart.html to review the story if you need to.

You will be asked to share your written response to You will be asked to share your written response to the story with the class tomorrow.the story with the class tomorrow.