“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

“THE TELL-TALE HEART” BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

• Analysis

WARM-UP

• Describe 5 things you expect to find in scary stories.
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WARM-UP CONTINUED…

• For these 5 elements, would you react emotionally to these events, occasions, or things?
• For these 5 elements, would you react physically to these events, occasions, or things??

SETTING

• Setting is the time and place of a work of literature.
• Time = We do not know exactly when the actions take place (in a historical context), but we can estimate the timeframe to be over the course of a week with most events happening around midnight.
• Place = The location is the home of an elderly man in which the narrator has become a caretaker.

AGREE OR DISAGREE?

• The following states reflect the personality of the narrator. Reflect on how these statements could relate to the narrator’s personality.
• After we read the story, we will come back to these statements & determine whether we think the author agrees or disagrees with each statement.

AGREE OR DISAGREE?

• People who are insane always know that they are insane.
• Do you Agree or Disagree?

AGREE OR DISAGREE?

• Sane people sometimes imagine that they hear things.
• Do you Agree or Disagree?

AGREE OR DISAGREE?

• If you commit a major crime, sooner or later you will be caught.
• Do you Agree or Disagree?

AGREE OR DISAGREE?

• When you’ve done something wrong, it’s agony to wonder if you’ll be caught.
• Do you Agree or Disagree?

AGREE OR DISAGREE?

• All people share the same fears (i.e., the same things frighten all people.)
• Do you Agree or Disagree?

CHARACTERS & POINT OF VIEW

• Main Characters – an old man with one sightless, pale blue eye and his murderer.
• The story is told in first-person from the point of view of the murderer.
• What is it about the narrator that contributes to the overall effect of horror in the story?

QUESTIONS??

• Why does the narrator have such a problem with the “evil eye”?
• Why does the narrator say he isn’t crazy? (True! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am, but why will you say that I am mad?” )
• Why do you believe that the subtle sound of a heartbeat grabs his attention, rather than the old man’s screams?

MORE QUESTIONS??

• Why did the narrator feel the need to cut the old man up?
• Why does the narrator confess? Does the heartbeat really tell the tale of the murder?
• Does this story mirror Poe’s life in any way?

THEME

• The Duality of Man
• Light vs. Dark, Good vs. Evil – every man has to find a way to balance these out in the hopes that the light/good will be the predominate side in his life.
• What is it within each person that causes the suppressed dark side to come to the forefront?
• In the story, what causes the narrator to give in the dark side? Is it mental illness? Explain.
• How does this illness prove to be the narrator’s downfall?