What is a short story?

It is a fictional prose tale of no specified length, but too short to be published as a volume on its own, as novellas sometimes and novels usually are. A short story will normally concentrate on a single event with only one or two characters, more economically than a novel's sustained exploration of social background. There are similar fictional forms of greater antiquityfables, lais, folktales, and parables.

The Tell-Tale Heart

By Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe?

Lets know him!

About the Author

Poe was born in Boston, the son of traveling actors. The beginnings of his unhappy life were marked by his alcoholic fathers desertion of the family, followed by the death of his mother when he was two years old (TB). As he grew older, he was expelled from West Point, so he looked for work as a journalist and wrote literary reviews, but money was scarce. Poverty intensified his despair when his beloved wife, Virginia, died following a long illness (TB). Deeply depressed, Poe died two years later after being found on the streets of Baltimore, sick, delirious, and, in his doctors words, haggard, not to say bloated, and unwashed.

Edgar Allan Poe

Reading Focus
Mood The feeling the writer creates for the reader is called the mood (i.e. the way you feel). Tone The way the author creates the mood or the authors attitude (i.e. what the author does to make you feel a certain way).

Reading Focus

Setting The setting is where and when the story takes place. The setting is relevant to the meaning of the text. Analyze the purpose of the setting and it will give you insight to the story.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Pre-Reading: Brainstorm at least five things that you look for or expect to find in a scary story. What did you write down and why? Do you believe that these things add to the atmosphere of a scary story? Are you scared by any of these things?

Read the Short Story

10 Minutes

The Tell-Tale Heart

Statements You You Agree Disagree Narrator Agrees Narrator Disagrees

People who are insane

always know that they are insane. Sane people sometimes imagine that they hear things. If you commit a major crime, sooner or later you will be caught. When youve done something wrong, its agony to wonder if youll be caught. All people share the same fears (i.e., the same things frighten all people.)

Characters

Narrator The narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart recounts his murder of an old man. Since he tells the story in first-person, the reader cannot determine how much of what he says is true; thus, he is an unreliable narrator. Though he repeatedly states that he is sane, the reader suspects otherwise from his bizarre reasoning, behavior, and speech. He speaks with trepidation from the famous first line of the story: Truenervousvery, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?'' The reader soon realizes through Poes jolting description of the narrators state of mind that the protagonist has in fact descended into madness. The narrator claims that he loves the old man and has no motive for the murder other than growing dislike of a cloudy film over one of the old mans eyes. Poe effectively conveys panic in the narrators voice, and the reader senses uneasiness and growing tension in the narrative. Through the first-person narrative of a madman, Poe effectively creates a gothic tale full of horror and psychological torment, a style he termed arabesque.

 Old Man The old man is known to readers only through the narration of the insane protagonist. According to the narrator, the old man had never done anything to warrant his murder. However, the old mans cloudy, pale blue eye bothers the narrator tremendously. The narrator believes that only by killing the old man can he get rid of the eyes overpowering malignant force. The old man is apparently quite rich, for he possesses treasures and gold and he locks the window shutters in his room for fear of robbers. However, the narrator states that he has no desire for his gold. In fact, he claims that he loves the old man. Through the narrator, the reader understands the horror that the old man experiences as he realizes that his companion is about to kill him. The narrator claims that he too knows this horror very well. Some critics argue that the old

Vocabulary

acute audacity conceived crevice derision

hypocritical stealthily stifled vehemently vex

The Tell-Tale Heart

Vocabulary Worksheet Foresight: Thoughtful regard for the future Dissimulation: Hidden under a false appearance Vexed: Troubled, distressed, caused agitation Sagacity: Sound judgment Hearkening: Giving careful attention Awe: A mixed feeling of reverence, fear, and wonder Distinctness: Unmistakable, clearly defined Over-acuteness: Very keen Concealment: A means of hiding Waned: To grow gradually less Scantlings: Small quantities or amounts Suavity: Gracefulness, politeness Bade: Urged, compelled Audacity: Bold courage, daring Reposed: To lay at rest Derision: Contempt, ridicule

Vocabulary: Definition and Matching

acute: sharp, keen (i.e. acute hearing) audacity: shameless, daring or boldness conceived: thought of crevice: a crack derision: ridicule

Vocabulary: Definition and Matching

hypocritical: false or deceptive; like a person who is pretending to be what he or she is not stealthily: cautiously; secretly stifled: smothered vehemently: with intense emotion vex: to disturb; annoy

lead to partial or complete loss of vision

The Tell-Tale Heart (Summary)

The Tell-Tale Heart Mood/Tone

BeginningExposition/Setting Support: A very dark bedroom at midnight; the chamber is lit by only a dark lantern that provides only a small amount of light. Mood:

The Tell-Tale Heart Mood/Tone

BeginningExposition/Setting Support: Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceededwith what cautionwith what foresightwith what dissimulation I went to work! (Poe 626). Tone:

The Tell-Tale Heart Mood/Tone

MiddleClimax Support: The old mans terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror (Poe 628). Mood: Tone:

The Tell-Tale Heart Mood/Tone

EndResolution Support: The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at easeNo doubt I now grew very pale;--but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increasedand what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick soundmuch such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breathand yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quicklymore vehemently; but the noise steadily increased (Poe 630). Mood:

The Tell-Tale Heart Mood/Tone

EndResolution Support: It grew louderlouderlouder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!no, no! They heard!they suspected!they knew!they were making a mockery of my horror!this I thought, and this I think. (Poe 630). Tone:

The Tell-Tale Heart

PREDICTION QUESTIONS Title: Based on the title, predict what you think this story will be about. First paragraph: Who do you think the narrator is speaking to? Third paragraph: Write down what you think the author means by the work. Third paragraph: Why does the narrator treat the old man so well in the mornings?

Fourth paragraph: Why doesnt the narrator leave when he realizes the old man is awake?
Fifth paragraph: Would you like to change your original prediction of what this story is about?

The Tell-Tale Heart

PREDICTION QUESTIONS Sixth and seventh paragraphs: Whose heart do you think the narrator is hearing? Seventh paragraph: In one sentence, predict the ending of the story. Midway through eighth paragraph: Who is at the door? Ninth paragraph: What is the noise? Tenth paragraph: What is the narrator feeling right now? End of story: Were any of your original predictions about the story correct?

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart

'The Tell-Tale Heart' is a short story of madness and murder, and is one of Poe's best-known works. This appalling first-person confession remains as tense and shocking as it was when first published in 1843. The story of domestic violence is told from the perspective of a nameless narrator. The protagonist's personal account appears grounded in an irrational fear, the horror of which is intensified by the narrator consistently reminding the reader that he is NOT insane. There is an admission that the victim presented no threat to the narrator: 'Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire.'

The Tell-Tale Heart

Poe was a pioneer of the short story. He defined the genre as a narrative that could be read at a single sitting of between half and hour and two hours. Its essential purpose was to create 'a certain unique and single effect' with everything in the narrative unified to serve this aim. A typical plot would have one or two short pieces of action introduced and brought to a climax, often by a twist at the end. The story is usually set in only one place. Characters are few in number, with the primary focus on one. 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is a perfect model of the genre.

ACTIVITY: With a partner, map out the plot of Poes The Tell-Tale Heart using the following plot map.

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart

By Edgar Allan Poe

the

The Tell-Tale Heart

Plot Analysis Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice. 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.

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 th

The Tell-Tale Heart

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

The Tell-Tale Heart

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)

The Tell-Tale Heart

Discussion Questions: What components of a scary story were present in this story? How reliable is our narrator regarding his sanity? How does Poe use images and phrases to create an atmosphere of horror? Why does the killer confess? Does the heartbeat really tell the tale of the murder?

The Tell-Tale Heart

Why do you think this story has remained so popular over all these years?

The Tell-Tale Heart

Choose one of the following options for your response to The Tell-Tale Heart. Option 1: Use the COMIC CREATOR at http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/ to create a comic strip with at least six blocks that summarizes a portion of the story The Tell-Tale Heart. Option 2: Use the ACROSTIC POEMS online tool at http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/acrostic/ to create an acrostic poem that summarizes the events of the story. You can use the term Tell-Tale Heart or Narrator as the basis for your poem. Remember to go online at http://www.poemuseum.org/selected_works/tell_tale _heart.html to review the story if you need to. You will be asked to share your written response to the story with the class tomorrow.