"The Tell-Tale Heart" Vocabulary and Comprehension Quiz

What is the central message of "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

• From love comes sacrifice

• Guilt can drive you mad.

• With murder comes joy.

• Do not trust your elders.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

By telling this story from the murderer's point of view, the author helps the reader

• recognize the narrator's insanity

• understand the old man's thoughts

• compare both of the character's thoughts

• understand why the police have come

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the author describes the sound that narrator hears beneath the floorboards as a heartbeat. This is a symbol of what human emotion?

• Happiness

• Anger

• Despair

• Guilt

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.4

Read the excerpt below. What can you infer the meaning of the word audacity is?

I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. QUESTION: What is the meaning of audacity?

• uncaring

• boldness

• enthusiasm

Tags

CCSS.L.8.4A

CCSS.RL.8.4

Read the excerpt below.

And this I did for seven long nights--every night just at midnight--but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man that vexed me, but his Evil Eye.

QUESTION: What can you infer the meaning of the word vexed is?

• surprised

• hated

• troubled

Tags

CCSS.L.8.4A

CCSS.RL.8.4

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," this sentence is most likely used to reveal that the narrator---?

"And this I did for seven long nights--every night just at midnight--but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work..."

• is unable to sleep at night.

• is obsessed with the eye.

• is eager to kill the old man.

• is a rational man.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.4

What character trait does the narrator convey through this sentence?

"I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle..."

• intelligence

• insanity

• patience

• cruelty

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

Which statement from the text in "The Tell-Tale Heart" proves that the narrator feels guilty?

• "there was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more."

• "A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises"

• "The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease."

• "Dissemble no more! I admit the deed!--tear up the planks!--here, here!--it is the beating of this hideous heart!"

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.W.8.9A

Read the excerpt (short selection) below. Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief--oh no!--it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. Question: What conclusion can you draw about the narrator?

• He is a cruel person who enjoys torturing others.

• He finds joy and pleasure in stalking the old man.

• He can relate to the old man’s terror because of the madness that haunts him.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.3

All of the following are true about the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" EXCEPT

• He was after the old man's gold, even though he denies it

• He was disturbed by the old man's gaze

• He doesn't remember when or how he had decided to kill the old man

• He claims to have had no problem with the old man himself

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.3