The Tell-Tale Heart Review Quiz

1. What is the effect of the simile on these lines from paragraph 11? (R.3.1)

“It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” (Paragraph 11)

• It shows the narrator starting to change his mind.

• It reveals the narrator’s increased agitation

• It shows the narrator focusing on the heart.

• It reveals the narrator’s sense of guilt and remorse.

1. What is the meaning of the personification on these lines as it is used in paragraph 8? (R.3.1)

“All in vain; because Death, in approaching him, had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim.” (Paragraph 8)

• It reveals the man will soon meet his fate.

• It reveals the man’s pain will soon come to an end.

• It reveals the man’s fear at hearing the narrator in his room.

• It reveals the man’s terror at seeing the narrator in his room.

1. What does the word hearkening mean as it is used in this line from paragraph 7? (V.1.3)

“He was still sitting up in the bed listening,—just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.” (Paragraph 7)

• Sleep

• Ignore

• Listen

• Awaken

What is the author's purpose for using rhetorical questions throughout the passage?

• It reveals the narrator’s increased lack of sanity.

• It reveals the narrator’s increased lack of anger.

• It reveals the narrator’s increased sense of sanity.

• It reveals the narrator’s increased sense of remorse

1. What is the meaning of the simile on these lines from paragraph 11? (R.3.4)

“It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” (Paragraph 11)

• It shows the narrator focusing on the heart

• The narrator feels like he is heading into  battle.

• It shows the narrator starting to change his mind.

• The narrator is feeling more anger as time ticks by

1. Read the text from paragraph 12:

“But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me—the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once—once only.” (Paragraph 12)

What is the significance of the irony in this excerpt?

• It illustrates the narrator’s increasing sanity.

• It highlights the narrator’s increasing paranoia.

• It showcases the narrator’s increasing rationality.

• It emphasizes the narrator’s increasing ambiguity.

Select the word from Paragraph 12  that comes from a Latin root meaning “great fear” or “dread”.  (V.1.2)

1. But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s 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. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me—the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once—once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.

• Vex

• Nervous

• Terror

• Refrained

What are two different themes of the story? (R.1.2)

• Do not trust your neighbors. / Eyes of evil always see the truth.

• You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. / Eyes of truth always see through evil.

• Doing morally wrong things will lead to insanity. / Madness is the result of lost love.

• Things are not always what they seem. / A guilty conscience eventually reveals the truth.

Which sentence suggests that the main character is likely to be insane and therefore may be an unreliable narrator? (R.1.3)

• “And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses?” (Paragraph 11)

• “I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled.” (Paragraph 5)

• “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work!”

• “And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head.” (Paragraph 4)

1. Read this sentence from paragraph 14.

“I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye—not even his—could have detected anything wrong.” (Paragraph 14)

What does cunningly mean in this sentence? (V.1.3)

• Evidently

• Obviously

• Deceptively

• Intelligently