The Tell-Tale Heart Test Review

The madman

-Narrator
-unstable, insane, unreliable
-assures reader he is not crazy
-spies on the old man while he sleeps

The old man

-has the “eye of a vulture”
-murdered by the madman

The neighbors

-hear a shriek coming from the old man’s home
-alert the police of their concern

The policemen

-show up at the old man’s home to investigate the noise complaint
-they do NOT suspect the narrator of foul play

vulture eye

-the narrator feels haunted by it
-motivates the narrator to kill the old man

groan of mortal terror

-the low, smothered sound the old man lets out when he hears a noise in his bedroom

beating heart

what inspires madman to confess
-the madman imagines this
-hears it before killing the old man (fears the neighbors will hear it)
-hears it again, coming from the floorboards, when they police come to investigate

floorboards

-where madman hides old man’s body
-where he thinks he hears the heart beating at the end of the story

acute

Above all was the sense of hearing acute.

razor-sharp

dissemble

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks!—here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!”

to hide one’s true motives, feelings, or beliefs

gesticulations

I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations, but the noise steadily increased.

dramatic hand gestures used to emphasize one’s words

stealthily

So I opened it—you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily

in a cautious, careful manner

vexed

For it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.

annoyed, frustrated, worried

The narrator insists that he is not crazy. Why does he believe he is “SANE”?

-He assures readers that he can CALMLY tell the entire story

Evidence of narrator's insanity

-hears things (beating heart) -sneaks in an spies on the old man while he sleeps -haunted by an innocent man’s eye -commits a grizzly murder -he’s proud of how cautiously & stealthy he is about his crime -becomes paranoid that he will get caught -speaks erratically (all over the place with his thoughts)

mortal

ability to cause death