THE TELL-TALE HEART --Edgar Allan Poe
Uploaded by scam655 on Apr 02, 2022
“THE TELL-TALE HEART”
--Edgar Allan Poe
THE NARRATOR: A CALCULATED KILLER or AN INSANE MADMAN?
After reading the story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, you will analyze the thoughts, actions, and attitude of the narrator in the story and determine if he is a calculated killer or an insane madman.
Use the chart below to gather your evidence and notes/explanations that you plan to use in your arguments when you present your case to the court.
POSITION: Mad man
(EVIDENCE): ”They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!—this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die!”
Page(s):87 Line(s): 146-150
EXPLANATION:
This evidence proves the narrator is a madman because the police officers did not do anything to show they knew everything. It is impossible to hear a dead man's heart beat because the old man was dead thus, the police officers were not able to hear the heartbeat. The smiles could have been their regular facial expressions. The narrator could have been in the clear and have gotten away with this, however, his anxiety and unreliability gave him away.
(EVIDENCE):He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. 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; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind...