The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart

One of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous short stories, "The Tell-Tale
Heart," was first published in the January, 1843 edition of James Russell
Lowell's The Pioneer and was reprinted in the August 23, 1845 issue of
The Broadway Journal.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is simultaneously a horror story and psychological
thriller told from a first-person perspective.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is simultaneously a horror story and psychological
thriller told from a first-person perspective.
It is admired as an excellent example of how a short story can produce an
effect on the reader. Poe believed that all good literature must create a
unity of effect on the reader and this effect must reveal truth or evoke
emotions.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is simultaneously a horror story and psychological
thriller told from a first-person perspective.
It is admired as an excellent example of how a short story can produce an
effect on the reader. Poe believed that all good literature must create a
unity of effect on the reader and this effect must reveal truth or evoke
emotions.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" exemplifies Poe's ability to expose the dark side of
humankind and is a harbinger of novels and films dealing with psychological
realism.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is simultaneously a horror story and psychological
thriller told from a first-person perspective.
It is admired as an excellent example of how a short story can produce an
effect on the reader. Poe believed that all good literature must create a
unity of effect on the reader and this effect must reveal truth or evoke
emotions.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" exemplifies Poe's ability to expose the dark side of
humankind and is a harbinger of novels and films dealing with psychological
realism.
Poe's work has influenced genres as diverse as French symbolist poetry and
Hollywood horror films, and writers as diverse as Ambrose Bierce and Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is one of a number of Poe stories that focus on an
obsessed protagonist/narrator.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is one of a number of Poe stories that focus on an
obsessed protagonist/narrator.
Indeed, what holds the story together and holds the attention of the
reader is the single-minded voice of the madman who, even as he denies
his madness, tells a story that confirms it.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is one of a number of Poe stories that focus on an
obsessed protagonist/narrator.
Indeed, what holds the story together and holds the attention of the
reader is the single-minded voice of the madman who, even as he denies
his madness, tells a story that confirms it.
Poe's use of a first-person narrator obsessively recounting a past event is
an important element in his contribution to the short story form as a
highly unified aesthetic entity.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" begins with the famous line "True! — nervous—
very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am
mad?" The narrator insists that his disease has sharpened, not dulled, his
senses.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" begins with the famous line "True! — nervous—
very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am
mad?" The narrator insists that his disease has sharpened, not dulled, his
senses.
Poe uses the theme of insanity vs. insanity, and all the nuances in
between, in many of his short stories, often charging his insane narrators
with the futile task of proving that they are not mad.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" begins with the famous line "True! — nervous—
very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am
mad?" The narrator insists that his disease has sharpened, not dulled, his
senses.
Poe uses the theme of insanity vs. insanity, and all the nuances in
between, in many of his short stories, often charging his insane narrators
with the futile task of proving that they are not mad.

Often, in stories such as The Tell-Tale Heart, though the narrators claim
they are of sound mind and seem completely unremorseful, they are driven
to confess by a persistent reminder of their crime.
 The Tell-Tale Heart
A very ironic
story about
paranoia,
insanity,
murder,
obsession and
friendship.
 We interrupt these
study notes to bring
you the following
bulletin:
Before you begin,
you should know:
• This story leaves out a lot of info
• You have to infer and use context
clues
Example:
• The Lion King…
• Kinds of cars…
• Emotions…
I never said “I am talking about
“TLKing”, “cars,” or “emotions”:
you inferred it.
Complete “Tell-Tale”
Visual Inference
before moving on in
the ppt…
 TELL-TALE HEART VISUAL
INFERENCE
WHAT CAN YOU INFER ABOUT THE
STORY FROM THE VISUALS
PROVIDED?

FOR EACH VISUAL, WRITE DOWN WHAT

YOU THINK IT HAS TO DO WITH THE
STORY.
VISUAL 1
VISUAL 2
VISUAL 3
VISUAL 4
VISUAL 5
VISUAL 6
VISUAL 7
VISUAL 8
 USING ALL YOUR
RESPONSES TO THE
VISUAL INFERENCES,
WRITE 3-4 SENTENCES
EXPLAINING WHAT
MIGHT HAPPEN IN THE
STORY.
 The Characters
An Unreliable Narrator
nervous dude who swears he is
NOT CRAZY
An Old man with a messed up eye
Nice guy, Too bad he’s so trusting
The Police
Very Friendly
A Neighbour
Nosy
 Our
\ Paranoid
narrator
*Inference Interruption:
The more someone gets angry as
they try to tell you they are not
crazy, they are probably crazy.
Q: WHY DO WE INFER HE’S
CRAZY?
A. THE NARRATOR’S
OBSESSIONS
For someone who isn’t crazy, he
is preoccupied with really
unimportant stuff
NARRATOR’S OBSESSIONS - 1
His own sanity- he really wants
you to know he isn’t crazy
 NARRATOR’S OBSESSIONS -
2
The narrator really hates the
old man’s cataract.
 NARRATOR’S OBSESSIONS -
3
The old man’s heartbeat- it is a
BEAT he can’t ignore… but how
often do you hear someone’s
heart?
The RICH old man-
HAS A CATARACT & hires
the narrator
*Inference Interruption:
The narrator takes care of the old
man.We are never told for sure, we
infer it.
The Police-
someone ends up dead
 Setting:
Most action takes
place in the old
man’s big house.
 However…
The story begins in an
unknown place, not in the old
man’s house
Have to infer where the
narrator might be…
He is trying to convince
someone is not crazy…
Where
do we
go
when
others
think
we are
crazy?
 Mood
the narrator hears all kinds
of noises- pay attention to
what they are- they set up
the mood
Important Closing
Notes:
• Passage of time – the
narrator mentions it a
lot
• Noise (sets the mood w/
the noise)
Themes:
• Discovery
• Sanity vs. Insanity
• Cleverness
• Guilt