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WorksheetsThe Tell-Tale Heart 🫀
Total questions: 12
Worksheet time: 36mins
How does the narrator try to prove that he is not mad?
He describes how cunning and cautious he is.
He waits until the eighth night to kill the old man.
He says he pities the old man but laughs in his heart.
He allows the police officers to search the house.
Why can’t the police officers hear the old man’s heart?
The narrator is speaking loudly to drown out the old man’s heart.
The officers are sitting too far away from the old man’s body.
The officers’ senses are not as acute as those of the narrator.
The old man’s heart is not actually beating.
Why does the narrator kill the old man?
What causes the narrator to confess to his crime?
He thinks he hears the dead man’s heart beating. He thinks the police officers can hear it, too.
He knows the dead man’s heart is silent, and he’s confident the police officers hear nothing at all.
He thinks he hears the dead man’s heart beating, but he believes the sound is too faint for the police officers to notice.
He doesn’t hear the dead man’s heart, but he’s convinced the police officers can sense it pounding in the silence.
How does the narrator’s mention of his sharpened sense of hearing in paragraph 1 hint at the old man’s death?
It hints at the narrator’s ability to hear the police coming to check on the old man.
It hints at the narrator’s decision to murder the old man partly due to his loud voice.
It hints at the point when the old man’s heartbeat drives the narrator to kill him.
It hints at the time when the old man’s sleep is disturbed by the narrator at the door.
Read the dictionary definition below.
acute \ə-kyoot′\ adj 1. sharp or severe 2. keenly perceptive 3. less than ninety degrees 4. high in pitch
Which definition best fits how the word acute is used in paragraph 1?
Definition 1
Definition 2
Definition 3
Definition 4
Read the excerpt from paragraph 2.
I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold. . . .
How does the author create suspense in this excerpt?
By identifying the source of the narrator’s irrational fear
By explaining why the narrator wants to avoid the old man
By describing how unhealthy the old man looks to the narrator
By repeating words to emphasize the narrator’s skill as a criminal
In paragraph 4, the narrator describes going to the old man’s room every night around midnight. Why is he unable to commit the murder for the first seven nights?
He needs to have more light in order to see his victim.
He cannot see the old man’s eye, so he lacks the motivation to act.
He cannot sneak into the room because the old man is a restless sleeper.
He wants to be merciful, so he gives the old man a few more days to live.
Read the dictionary entry below.
profound \prə-found′\ adj 1. showing great insight or understanding 2. deeply felt or held; intense 3. far-reaching 4. situated at a great depth
Which definition best fits how the word profound is used in paragraph 4?
Definition 1
Definition 2
Definition 3
Definition 4
How does the author create suspense in paragraph 4?
By explaining the narrator’s reasons for the murder
By having the narrator repeat the old mans word’s
By describing the narrator’s anxiety and fear
By showing the narrator’s repetitive actions
Which two quotes from paragraph 4 best support the narrator's repetitive actions?
I moved it slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep.
And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it—oh, so gently!
. . . and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.
So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.
Which two sentences best explain how Poe creates irony, a contrast between what is expected and what actually happens, in the story?
The narrator’s attempts to hide the murder actually result in him giving himself up to the police.
The narrator chooses to commit the murder in the middle of the night, when the old man is asleep.
The more the narrator insists that he is not mad, the more readers can detect evidence of his madness.
The narrator admits that he could not stop thinking about the old man and about his pale, filmy eye.
