THE GOTHIC ANSWERS
The Tell-Tale Heart - ACTIVITIES
UNDERSTANDING
1. Summarize in a paragraph of five to six sentences what happens in the story.
2. Who is the narrator? What has he done?
 The narrator is a madman, who murders the old man whom he lives with because he has an
“evil eye”.
3. Why does the narrator eventually admit to the police that he is guilty of murder?
 The narrator hears what he thinks is the old man’s heart beat, despite the fact that he is dead
and dismembered. He believes that the police can hear it as well and are mocking him, so in the
end he reveals his crime.
4. Can the narrator really hear a beating heart? Why or why not?
 The narrator imagines the sound of a beating heart that seems real to him in his madness,
however, since the old man is dead there is no such sound.
A WRITER’S STYLE – LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Accessed on 05/09/2014 at http://www.westgeauga.k12.oh.us/userfiles/1453/tell%20tale%20heart%20activities.pdf>
Edgar Allan Poe uses a range of literary techniques to develop a menacing and terrifying tone in his story.
1. FIRST PERSON NARRATION: When an author chooses to use first person point of view, he or she tells the
story as though the narrator were speaking directly to the reader. In this type of narration, the narrator uses the
pronoun “I”. In order to fully understand the meaning of the story, the reader must make some educated
guesses about the person who is telling the story and his/her situation.
a. How would you describe the narrator’s personality in “The Tell Tale Heart”? Are they someone
to be trusted as a narrator? Find evidence in the text to support your point of view.
 The narrator is a very anxious, mad person, who commits murder due to believing the old man
had an “evil eye”. The narrator describes himself as having “acute” senses. The narrator is not
someone to be trusted, because he is clearly mad and believes he can hear his victim’s beating
heart even after the murder. Evidence of the narrator’s unreliability include when the police
visit, and the narrator is disturbed by the sound of what he thinks is the dead man’s heart,
despite being the only one who can hear it.
 Another example that proves that the narrator is mad and not to be trusted is the way he
describes how the old man had done him “no wrong”, but he still murders him.
b. One word to describe the tone of this passage is “menacing.” Something menacing is a possible
source of danger or has a threatening quality. How does the narrator’s persona contribute to
the tone of the passage?
 Four times in the story, the narrator clearly states that he is not “mad”, but his actions in
murdering the old man for an “evil eye” and dismembering the body refute that and hence
make the story more menacing. The narrator’s disturbed mind is also evident in the way each
night he spends an hour, watching the old man sleep.
2. CONNOTATION: Connotation is when a word invokes a specific idea or feeling in addition to its
literal meaning. For example, the word “dark” means literally the lacking of light, but often
connotes feelings of despair, trauma and sadness.
a. Find 10 verbs and/or nouns from the short story, write down the literal meaning as well as any
connotation that they might have in the table below.
Verb/Noun/Adjective/Adverb
Literal Meaning
Connotation
Dark (noun)
Place where light is absent
despair, trauma and sadness
Nervous (adjective)
Anxious
Worried, negative, despairing
Mad
Lose your temper
Loss of sanity, reason
(negative)
black
Color (absence of light)
Sad,
fearful,
despair,
depression
shadow
Silhouette made by light
Dark, depressing, black
fancy
Dressed-up, well-presented, Wealth, social status
opulent
night
Between sunset and sunrise, Mysterious,
unknown,
when the moon is in the sky
frightening, emotional
hours
Refers to a specific time unit Extended periods of time
when singular
3. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (ABSTRACT IMAGERY): Whenever you describe something by comparing it
with something else, you are using figurative language. The most common types of figurative
language are similes, metaphors and personification.
 Simile: a comparison of two unlike things, typically marked by use of "like" or "as".
 Metaphor: A comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using “like” or
“as”, like a simile does.
Analyse this sentence from the story.
“It was a low, dull, quick, sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”.
a. Is this example a metaphor or a simile? Why?
 Simile
b. Why might the author liken the sound that the narrator hears to a “watch…enveloped in
cotton”. ?
 The narrator describes the beating heart like a “watch…enveloped in cotton” to describe how its
constant noise is muffled as in being wrapped in cotton, but still discernible.
c. Find another example of a metaphor or simile from the text and write it down. Make sure to
identify whether it is a metaphor or simile?
 “It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” This simile
shows the reader how the narrator’s fury was increased by the sound of the beating heart,
inspiring him to murder the old man.
4. PERSONIFICATION: This is when a writer gives human qualities to something that is not human,
often by way of a metaphor.
a. Can you find an example of personification from the story? Write it down.
 “because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and
enveloped the victim.”
b. Now explain why it is a form of personification.
 In this example from the text, death is given human characteristics such as being able to
approach and stalk the old man.
5. SUBJECTS OF HORROR & SUPERNATURAL: These are intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the
audience, and help make it part of the gothic genre. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience
has often been the intrusion of an evil—or, occasionally, misunderstood—supernatural element into
everyday human experience.
a. What is the supernatural or horror element in “The Tell-Tale Heart?”
 There are two horrific elements that make “The Tell-Tale Heart” a gothic text, the first one is
when the narrator murders the old man. The second element is the narrator’s madness, which
means he thinks that he hears the old man’s beating heart despite being dead.
ANALYSIS PRACTICE
Accessed on 05/09/14 <http://www.nms.org/Portals/0/Docs/English/Tell-Tale%20Heart.pdf>
6. REPETITION: Where words or certain phrases are repeated for a stronger emphasis by the author.
Analyse this sentence from the story.
“And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel although he neither
saw nor heard – to feel the presence of my head within the room.”


a. What is repeated in this sentence?
“Feel”
b. What is being emphasized through this repetition?
By repeating the word “feel”, Poe is emphasizing how unsettled and fearful the old man has
become.
c. Complete the paragraph below.
In “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, he uses a range of techniques to create a terrifying
atmosphere for his reader.
For instance, by repeating the word “feel”, the author emphasizes how
frightened the old man is, which also enhances the sense of menace because the narrator is the cause of this
unease by quietly sticking his head through the door and watching him. The old man can “feel” the
narrator’s presence but cannot see him.
7. Now using your notes above, and short quotations from the text, write two paragraphs in which
you explain how two of Poe’s techniques help create a sense of menace in ‘The Tell-Tell Heart.
These techniques can include: repetition, figurative language and imagery.
“Don’t Ask Jack” - ACTIVITIES
COMPREHENSION AND UNDERSTANDING
1. Who is Jack? Where can he be found?

Jack is an antique jack-in-a-box, who can be found hidden away and underneath all the
other toys in the toy chest. Adults consider him an antique whereas the children don’t
like Jack.
2. Why don’t the children like playing with Jack?
 The children sense that there is something unsettling almost evil about Jack, even though
they have never been able to open his box. They all have had a dream where they sleepwalked into the nursery and Jack came out of his box and told them things. The children
have also told stories in which Jack is an evil “wizard” or keeper of “Pandora’s box”.
3. At the end of the story, what happens to the four children who owned Jack?
 At the end of the story, the four children who played in the Nursery and owned Jack, have
different fates. The eldest boy is killed in World War One, the other boy goes mad and
tries to burn down the old family house. This boy is instutionalised. The two girls, now old
women, refuse to have anything to do with the old family house and jack-in-the box.
ANALYSIS
4. Look closely at this passage.
And then the children would touch the catch, and the lid would open, slow as sunset, and the music would began to play,
and Jack came out. Not with a pop and a bounce: he was no spring-heeled Jack. But deliberately, intently, he would
rise from the box and motion for the children to come closer, closer, and smile.
And there in the moonlight, he told them each things they could never quite remember, things they were never able
entirely to forget
a. How would you describe the tone of this passage? Why?
 The tone of this passage is sinister and menacing, as it describes how Jack lures the
children into the nursery at night and tells them thing that “they could never quite
remember” or “entirely…forget”.
b. At what time of day, does this part of the story take place? Does this add to the tone of the
story?
 This part of the story takes place at night, when the children are meant to be asleep. It
adds to the sinister tone of the story, because night-time is traditionally associated with
darkness and evil.
c. Can you find an example of a simile in this passage? Write it down. Why do you think Neil
Gaiman has chosen this simile to describe Jack?
Simile – slow as sunset.
 Gaiman describes Jack as rising out of his box “slow as sunset”. He chooses this simile
because sunset is a slow process as opposed to how a Jack usually comes out of his box.
The sunset simile also helps associate Jack with darkness and evil that come after the sun
goes down.
d. What words are repeated? How do they help make this passage more uneasy?
 The word that was repeated was “closer”, as Gaiman wanted to emphasize how the
children drawn towards the Jack against their will.
e. Neil Gaiman uses the verbs “deliberately” and “intently” to describe Jack’s movements?
How is this a contrast to a typical Jack-in-a-box?
 Gaiman employs the verbs “deliberately” and “intently” to describe how Jack comes out
of his box. This is a direct contrast to a typical jack-in-a-box which comes out of its box
quickly and in out of control movements. It makes the Jack in this story seem much more
sinister.
f. Now in a short paragraph of four to five sentences, and using quotations, describe how Neil
Gaiman creates a tone of menace and unease in this passage from “Don’t Ask Jack”.
Gaiman creates a tone of menace and unease in this passage from “Don’t Ask Jack”
through his use of a simile, repetition and contrast. He uses the simile “slow as sunset” to
describe how Jack comes out of his box slowly in contrast to a normal jack-in-a-box. The
choice of “sunset” also highlights how this Jack is associated with darkness and evil.
Gaiman also repeats the phrase “closer” to emphasize Jack’s sinister luring of the children
towards him to tell them things “they could never quite remember” or “forget”. The
combination of these three techniques help create a sinister mood in this passage.
“The Highwayman” - ACTIVITIES
UNDERSTANDING
1. Who tells the Redcoats where to find the Highwayman? Why?
 Tim, the Ostler, tells the Redcoats where to find the Highwayman in the poem. He
overhears Bess talking to the highwayman, and decides to tell the authorities as he is in
love with the landlord’s daughter.
2. How does Bess save the Highwayman?
 Bess uses the gun that the troops have tied her up with to commit suicide and warn her
lover, the highwayman, that the Redcoats are waiting for him at the inn.
3. What kind of atmosphere does this poem have? Does it change?
 Due to the deaths of Bess and the Highwayman, the poem is quite tragic.
 The poem is also deliberately eerie as most of the events take place at night, and towards
the end it features the ghosts of Bess and her lover, the Highwayman.
ANALYSIS
4. Find an example of imagery such as a metaphor or simile from the poem. Write it down and explain
what type of imagery it is. How does this use of imagery contribute to the poem’s atmosphere?
 “When the road is a ribbon of moonlight” – metaphor
 “The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas” – metaphor
 “Hair like mouldy hay” – simile
 The first two metaphors involve moon and describe the scene at night, hence contributing
to the eerie atmosphere of the poem.
 Tim the Ostler, is described as having “Hair like mouldy hay”. This simile highlights how
unclean he is and implies that he has an unpleasant and untrustworthy demeanour.
The Three Witches - ACTIVITIES
UNDERSTANDING
1. What do the witches put in their cauldron in the stanza starting “fillet of snake”?
 Eye of newt and toe of frog
 Bat, dog, snake, worm, lizard, owlet (baby owl)
2. Are any of these creatures considered dangerous or ugly? Why the use of such creatures might be
considered appropriate for a witches spell.
 All of the creatures listed, would be considered at the very least ugly and some like a snake
and dog dangerous as well. The witches use such evil creatures in their spell, because it
reflects them and their evil wishes.
FORMATIVE ORAL
3. In a group of three, prepare a reading for the class of either The Highwayman or the witches scene from
Macbeth. Consider the use of rhyme, rhythm and repetition and how it will affect your reading of
these poems. You might like to dress up and act out the scene.
“Where The Wild Roses Grow” - ACTIVITIES
(adapted from Stanners, Barbara. Exploring Genre – Horror, 2007)
UNDERSTANDING
1. Summarize what happens in the song for each day:
a. “first day”
b. “second day”
c. “third day”
2. What happens to Eliza Day in the song?
3. What two perspectives (two narrators) are presented in “Where the Wild Roses Grow”?
ANALYSIS
4. SYMBOLISM: is when something stands for something else, eg. A cross can mean an error in a test, but it
is also a symbol of the Church and Christ.
a. What might the words “wild”, “rose” and “bloody” symbolize in the song?”
5. What gothic elements does this song include?
Thriller - ACTIVITIES
1. Re-watch the video clip with your teacher, and make notes about what you notice under the
following headings. Remember to look back at your notes from Edward Scissorhands for help.
a. Lighting
b. Color palette
c. Costuming
d. Sound
e. Setting
f. Props
2. Recount in your own words, the plot of ‘Thriller’.
3. What kind of supernatural beings are featured?
4. What other traditional horror/ gothic elements does the video include?
5. What is the setting of this video clip? From whose perspective is the story told?
6. What kind of atmosphere is the narrator trying to create? Why?
7. What is the effect of the narrator’s sinister laugh on the audience (you)?
8. Who is the victim and what emotions do they experience and why?
9. At the time, “Thriller” was released it was seen as a landmark video clip in the history of music – do
you agree? Why or why not? Write a paragraph in which you argue for one side. Remember to
give evidence to support your point of view.