Tell-Tale Heart Questions

Directions: Tead the following statements and decide whether you agree or disagree with them, placing a check mark in the correct column. After we’ve read the story, go back and decide if the author agrees or disagrees with these same statements.

You Agree / You Disagree / Statements / Author Agrees / Author Disagrees
1. People who are insane always know that they are insane.
2. People who are sane always know that they are sane.
3. Sane people sometimes imagine that they hear things.
4. If you commit a major crime, sooner or later you will be caught.
5. When you’ve done something wrong, it’s agony to wonder if you’ll be caught.
6. All people share the same fears (i.e., the same things frighten all people.)
7. If a crime is committed for the right reasons, it is OK.
8. All old people deserve to be killed because they are old.
9. People who are crazy are really geniuses.
10. People’s hearts continue to work after they are dead.

Directions: Answer each question below to the best of your ability.

  1. In your own words, explain what happens in the story.
  1. What specifically is it about the old man that troubles the narrator?
  1. Why does it trouble him?
  1. What does the narrator do each night? Why?
  1. How does the narrator feel after he commits the murder? Is he worried about being caught?
  1. Why does the killer confess?
  1. Name 3 details, descriptions, or actions that the author uses to create an atmosphere of horror.
  1. Why does Poe have the murderer tell the story?

Poe talks about TIME throughout the story:

  1. Find three quotations to do with TIME going slowly in the story.
  1. Find two quotations to do with TIME going fast within the story.