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The Tell-Tale Heart
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1843. The narrator, the murderer, tells the story of when he murdered an old man with a "vulture eye", and insists that he is not insane. By the end of the story, the narrator confesses to the police of his crime due to strange sounds he hears that he believes is the heart of the murdered old man from under the floorboards. This category regards the story and any questions that its readers might have about it.
347 Questions
By allowing readers access to the mind of the killer, Poe creates a sense of intimacy and psychological insight into the character's motivations and descent into madness. This technique heightens the tension and horror of the story, drawing readers into the disturbed mindset of the protagonist and making the narrative more chilling and impactful.
What are some facts about The Tell-Tale Heart?
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is narrated by an unnamed character who insists on their sanity before describing how they committed a murder. The story explores themes of guilt, paranoia, and the effects of a guilty conscience.
What are the pronouns in the story The Tell-Tale Heart?
In the story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, the pronouns used include "I," "my," "me," and "he." The narrator uses these pronouns to describe his own thoughts, actions, and feelings, as well as those of the old man he ultimately murders. The use of these pronouns helps create a sense of intimacy and psychological intensity in the narrative.
The narrator from Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart is obsessed with what about the old man?
The narrator is obsessed with the old man's "vulture eye" - a pale blue eye with a film over it that he perceives as evil. This obsession drives him to commit murder in order to rid himself of the eye.
Is the conflict in The Tell-Tale Heart external or internal?
He successfully completes the murder but he confesses to the police because he "hears" the beating of his heart.
What do you learn about the narrator for my delicate heart conditon?
The narrator has a delicate heart condition that makes them vulnerable and in need of special care in various aspects of their life. They likely have to be mindful of their physical health and potential triggers that could worsen their condition. This sensitivity implies a level of vulnerability and fragility that influences their experiences and interactions.
Where are two examples of similes in The Tell-Tale Heart?
Two examples of similes in "The Tell-Tale Heart" are "it was open--wide, wide open--and I grew furious as I gazed upon it" (comparing the eye to an open hole) and "I seemed to tread on air" (comparing the feeling of lightness to walking on air).
What is the plot for the story The Tell-Tale Heart?
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.
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…
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)
What is the narrator's behavior when he was with the police in The Tell-Tale Heart?
The narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" becomes angry at the police because he believes that they are lying to him. He thinks that they know that he killed the old man, and are remaining only to torture his conscience until he confesses.
What are the settings of The Tell-Tale Heart?
There are many settings in"The tell-tale heart". The old man's house, The narrator tells the story from a prison or insane asylum. And the setting itself is actually in the obsessed mind of the narrator himself.
Well I have read it twice, and also find it very hard to find the setting as well, but what i do know is that it, well it seems, that it takes place in a boathouse, thier is an old man, the narrator, and the police. It takes place mostly at night.
somewhere: its in the old man's house in midnight
Why does the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart greet the old man so heartily every morning?
The narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" greets the old man heartily to conceal his true feelings of hatred and resentment towards him. This cheerful demeanor helps the narrator maintain a facade of normalcy and deflect suspicion away from his sinister motives.
When were The Tell-tale Heart and The Black Cat written?
The Tell-tale Heart was written in November 1842 and published in January 1843 in Pioneer.
The Black Cat is believed to have been written in late 1842-early 1843. It was first published on August 19, 1843 in the United States Saturday Post.
"Tell-Tale Heart and "The Black Cat" were written in 1843 by Edgar Allan Poe.
What impression was Poe trying to create in The Tell-Tale Heart?
In "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe aims to create a sense of suspense, dread, and paranoia in the reader. The narrator's escalating madness and obsession with the old man's eye are meant to evoke a feeling of unease and tension throughout the story.
From which point of view did Poe choose to tell The Tell-Tale Heart?
From the perspective of a man who has committed a crime
What does the narrator compare the lantern's ray falling on the eye to in The Tell-Tale Heart?
In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator compares the lantern's ray falling on the old man's eye to the sound of a watch that is muffled by cotton. This comparison emphasizes the precision and intensity of the narrator's attention to detail as he carefully watches the old man while planning his murder.
What old friend ''boisterously accosts'' helmstone the narrator?
Nat Whilk, an old and energetic acquaintance, enthusiastically approaches Helmstone in a loud and friendly manner before recognizing him.
Why does he say But why will you say that I am mad in The Tale-Tell Heart?
The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" questions why the reader thinks he is mad because he wants to defend his sanity and convince them of his rationality. However, his erratic behavior and obsession with the old man's eye reveal his unstable mental state, ultimately leading to his descent into madness.
What is the resolution in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe?
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more."
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had tried to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
" 'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more."
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you" - here I opened wide the door; --
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
Merely this, and nothing more.
Then into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon I heard again a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;-
'Tis the wind, and nothing more!"
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not an instant stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no sublunary being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."
But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
Wondering at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster - so, when Hope he would adjure,
Stern Despair returned, instead of the sweet Hope he dared adjure -
That sad answer, "Nevermore!"
But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by angels whose faint foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite - respite and Nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Let me quaff this kind Nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by Horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting -
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!
What is the motif in The Tell-Tale Heart?
The motif in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is the theme of madness and guilt. The narrator's increasingly irrational behavior and his inability to rid himself of guilt over the murder he has committed are central to the story. This motif adds to the overall sense of suspense and psychological tension in the narrative.
What does the old man's eye symbolize in The Tell-Tale Heart?
The old man's eye symbolizes the narrator's guilt and internal conflict. It represents the narrator's fear and paranoia, as well as his own inner demons and conscience that haunt him. The eye serves as a physical manifestation of the narrator's guilt that ultimately drives him to commit the heinous act of murder.
Is the narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart reliable or unreliable?
The narrator in A Rose For Emily is unnamed, and serves as the town's collective voice. The narrator's mystery continues to deepen throughout the story, and it is never clear whether it is supposed to be a man or a woman.
Why do you think the narrator chooses to befriend K in the seventh man?
The narrator chooses to befriend K in "The Seventh Man" because he feels guilty for surviving a tsunami that claimed K's life. He seeks forgiveness and redemption by forming a friendship with K in his imagination, allowing him to process his trauma and find some semblance of closure.
The writer uses short, choppy sentences and repetitive phrases to build tension and mimic the rhythm of a heartbeat. Punctuation, such as dashes and exclamation points, adds to the feeling of suspense and urgency in the text. By emphasizing certain words and using pauses effectively, the writer keeps the reader on edge, mirroring the erratic heartbeat of the narrator.
What does the narrator mean when he says I went to work in The Tell-Tale Heart?
Poe uses the word work three times in the story, and your question is the first. The second time is this: "I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work;", and the third is in reference to the work of concealing the body. I believe that "the work", according to the narrator, is the elimination of the vulture (or evil) eye.
