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THE LANGUAGE ARTS MAGAZINE
Name: ___________________________________________________ Date: ______________
PLAY: The Tell-Tale Heart • Skill: Reading Comprehension
Directions: Read the play The Tell-Tale Heart in this issue of Scope. Then answer the multiple-choice and criticalthinking questions below.
1. What does the sound of the old
man’s beating heart symbolize?
A the police officers’ suspicion
of the villain
B the villain’s guilt
C the old man’s sadness
D the old man’s nervousness
2.The villain says about the old man’s
sickly eye, “Whenever it looked at
me, my blood ran cold.” The phrase
my blood ran cold is
A a simile comparing his blood
with cold water.
B imagery that represents murder.
C an idiom that means filled me
with terror.
D hyperbole that refers to the
temperature of his blood.
3.Why does the villain kill the
old man?
A He is convinced the old man
is trying to kill him.
B He wants to get rid of the old
man’s evil eye.
C He wants the old man’s money.
D He thinks he’ll never be caught.
4.Why do the words the eye appear
in all capital letters throughout
Scene 2?
A to show how much the old
man’s eye disturbs the villain
B to show how terrified the old
man is of the villain
C to demonstrate the old man’s
innocence
D to demonstrate how keen
the villain’s senses are
5. In Scene 4, why don’t the police
officers react to the sound of the
beating heart coming from the
floorboards?
A They are pretending they don’t
hear it so the villain will confess
his crime.
B They don’t know that the sound
is the old man’s heart beating.
C They are not very observant.
D They don’t hear it. The sound
is in the villain’s mind.
6. Which of the following is the main
focus of the story?
A the relationship between the
old man and the villain
B the details of the murder
C the villain’s mental state
D the police officers’ behavior
7. What does tell-tale mean?
A unstoppable
B confessing without resistance
C punishing publicly
D an outward sign
8.Which of the following best
describes the purpose of the sidebar
“Go Back in Time” on page 15?
A to explain why Poe’s writing is
still so popular today
B to describe what it was like to
go to school in a one-room
schoolhouse
C to help the reader understand
why the villain killed the old man
D to provide an overview of what
life was like during Poe’s time
Critical-Thinking Questions
9. Do you think the villain is a reliable narrator? In other words, do you believe that everything happened exactly the way he
says it did? Why or why not? ___________________________________________________________________________________
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10. O
nomatopoeia is the use of a word that sounds like the thing it stands for—buzz and ding, for example. What are
examples of onomatopoeia in the play? Why do you think the writer uses a lot of onomatopoeia in the play?_____________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Scholastic sCOPE ACTIVITY • September 5, 2011
Uses: Copy machine, opaque projector, or transparency master for overhead projector. Scholastic Inc. grants subscribers of Scholastic Scope permission to reproduce this page for use in their classrooms. Copyright © 2011 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
The Tell-Tale Heart Quiz