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 "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 "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 "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