Tone & Mood in "The Tell-Tale Heart" Readers' Theater Edition

The overall atmosphere (feeling) created by a work of literature is

• tone

• mood

• setting

• climax

The mood of a story, article, or film is heavily influenced by

• the setting

• the climax

• whether or not the writer uses figurative language (like metaphors and similes)

• the movie theater you watch the movie in

The attitude a writer takes toward the subject or the reader is called

• rising action

• mood

• tone

• the setting

TONE is determined by the

• reader

• writer

MOOD is determined by the

• reader

• writer

What is suspense?

• when the author drops hints about what will happen later in the story.

• a feeling of humor caused by reading something funny.

• a feeling of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen.

• the attitude an author takes toward the subject they're writing about.

In the prologue, the ravens tell the audience that Poe wrote "bloodcurdling tales" about "murder, morgues, gargoyles, and graveyards."

How does this language create suspense?

• The words rhyme and the audience will wonder about them.

• The audience gets a clue that the story they will be hearing is spooky and strange; that it will most likely involve a mystery or death.

• The words create a sense of fear and the audience knows that they might be scared.

• Ravens are creepy, dark birds, so the audience will be on the edge of their seat to hear more from them.

In SCENE 1, the Old Man tells the Villain that he does not look well today. How does this comment create suspense in the story?

• The Old Man's comment creates uneasiness, and the audience gets the idea that something is not right with the Villain, and is waiting to find out what will go wrong.

• The audience might be wondering if the Villain has an infectious disease and whether or not he will infect the Old Man

• The Old Man's comment shows that he has a mean streak, and the audience wonders whether or not he will hurt the Villain later in the story.

• It does not create suspense in the story. It's just a random comment the playwright included to take up time.

In SCENE 1, the Villain says "my blood ran cold" when he looks upon the Old Man's eye and tells the audience "So I made up my mind to kill him."

How do these comments create suspense in the story?

• This causes the audience to wonder, with dread, what the Villain will do to the Old Man to kill him. Will he succeed?

• These words do not create suspense; they were just written by the playwright to kill time in the story.

• These words cause the audience to wonder if the Old Man really does have a sickly eye that's so annoying he deserves to die.

• These words show the audience that the Villain is a nice person who takes care of the Old Man despite his strange eyeball.

In SCENE 2, the playwright, Mack Lewis, draws out the Old Man's murder. Lewis slowly builds up to the moment when the Villain pounces on the Old Man. How does this time stretch before the murder to create a suspenseful mood?

• The time stretch gives the tension a chance to build because the audience knows that the Villain plans to commit murder, even though the Old man does not.

• The time stretch does not create tension; it just draws the story out so it can be longer.

• The time stretch allows the audience a chance to get to know the characters a little bit better.

• The time stretch gives the story time to develop and helps to create the exposition.