The Tell Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
• 7-1 Week of Oct. 20, 2014
Homework –
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Essay Prep
Poe Short Story – read
Passage
Vocabulary
Example
Study Vocabulary from “The Tell Tale Heart.”
Test-Tuesday, October 21st.
The narrator claims he'll prove he's not "mad." What makes
you think the narrator is sane or insane, at the end of the
story? Give evidence from the story to support your answer.
• “The disease had sharpened my
senses-not dulled them.”
The Narrator knows what he is doing.
The narrator believes that his abilities
have become stronger.
Example:
The narrator claims he'll prove he's not "mad."
What makes you think the narrator is sane or
insane, at the end of the story? Give evidence
from the story to support your answer.
• The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart”
claims that he is not mad. However,
he does show signs of insanity.
Example Introductory & Concluding
Sentence:
• The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” claims that he is
not mad. However, he does show signs of insanity.
• Although the narrator claims that he is sane, these facts
from the story tell us that he is indeed deranged.
Reading Check
• What is the narrator’s sharpest sense?
• What is it about the old man that disturbs the narrator?
• How does the narrator treat the old man during the week
before he kills him?
• After he decides to kill the old man, why doesn’t the narrator
just slip in and stab him in his sleep?
• How does the narrator kill the old man?
• How does the narrator try to hide his crime?
• What causes the narrator to admit his crime?
The Tell-Tale Heart
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Part I
Part II
The Tell-Tale Heart Animation 7:47
The Tell-Tale Heart short film (10:10)
Poe Interactive (for Smart Board)
The Tell Tale Heart - The Alan Parsons Project (modern
adaptation)
• The Tell Tale Heart- Music only Video
• The Tell-Tale Heart – United Streaming (6:54)
Theme - Time
• References to time and clocks
• Some questions of time in the story are never answered
Why did it take eight days for the
narrator to kill the old man?
• The events in the narrator's story occur over eight days. Is this
significant? If so, why? Why would the narrator give us this
detail, but not the month, or the year?
• How might the narrator have spent those first seven days? Do
you think he sleeps? Why or why not?
• Shmoop video
Time Quotes
“It took me an hour to place my
whole head within the opening so
far that I could see him as he lay
upon his bed.” (3)
•suggests extreme loneliness
•Narrator has trouble sleeping
This moment is when we first begin to
notice there's something funny going on
with time.
“And this I did for seven long nights –
every night just at midnight.” (3)
All bad things
happen after
midnight!
“A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did
mine. “(4)
The narrator sees himself as a kind of
clock, counting down to the old man's
death.
Vocabulary
Conceived
Cunningly
Deputed
Dismembered
Enveloped
Grated
Hypocritical
Profound
Raved
Conceived
• V. To think of
Cunningly
• Clever in a tricky way
Deputed
• To assign
Dismembered
• To cut the arms and legs off
Enveloped
• To cover completely
Grated
• To rub something noisily against another object
• Washboard Music
Hypocrite
• One who pretends to have qualities he or she does not have
Profound
• Deep; wise
Raved
• To talk like an insane person
• talk wildly or incoherently, as if one were delirious or insane
Vocabulary
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Acute
Dissimulation
Profound
Sagacity
Crevice
Suavity
Gesticulations
Derision
Acute
• Bloodhounds have an acute sense of smell.
dissimulation
• When Bruce Wayne donned his Batman costume his
dissimulation was complete for no one would recognize him.
sagacity
• Even though he had never played chess before, his sagacity
made him a skillful opponent.
• Pronunciation
crevice
• As a result of the earthquake, a long crevice appeared in the
road.
crevasse
• a deep crevice or fissure (as in a glacier or the earth)
suavity
• N.
• Graceful politeness
acute
• Adj.
• sensitive
dissimulation
• N.
• The hiding of one’s feelings or purposes
sagacity
• N.
• High intelligence and sound judgment
• Ability to make wise decisions.
crevice
• N.
• A narrow opening
suavity
• Pronunciation
• Many advertisers use suavity as a means to sell a product.
gesticulations
• Noun
• A deliberate, vigorous motion or gesture
derision
Derision in school can hurt.
derision
• N.
• Contempt; ridicule
gesticulations
• Pronunciation
• Gesticulations are an important component of sign language
for the deaf.