1. The Tell Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe
7-1 Week of Oct. 20, 2014

2. Homework – Essay Prep Poe Short Story – read Passage Vocabulary
Example
Study Vocabulary from “The Tell Tale Heart.”
Test-Tuesday, October 21st.

3. “The disease had sharpened my senses-not dulled them.”
The narrator claims he'll prove he's not "mad." What makes you think the narrator is sane or insane, at the end of the story? Give evidence from the story to support your answer.
“The disease had sharpened my senses-not dulled them.”
The Narrator knows what he is doing.
The narrator believes that his abilities have become stronger.

4. Example:
The narrator claims he'll prove he's not "mad." What makes you think the narrator is sane or insane, at the end of the story? Give evidence from the story to support your answer.
The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” claims that he is not mad. However, he does show signs of insanity.

5. Example Introductory & Concluding Sentence:
The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” claims that he is not mad. However, he does show signs of insanity.
Although the narrator claims that he is sane, these facts from the story tell us that he is indeed deranged.

6. Reading Check What is the narrator’s sharpest sense?
What is it about the old man that disturbs the narrator?
How does the narrator treat the old man during the week before he kills him?
After he decides to kill the old man, why doesn’t the narrator just slip in and stab him in his sleep?
How does the narrator kill the old man?
How does the narrator try to hide his crime?
What causes the narrator to admit his crime?

7. The Tell-Tale Heart Part I Part II The Tell-Tale Heart Animation 7:47
The Tell-Tale Heart short film (10:10)
Poe Interactive (for Smart Board)
The Tell Tale Heart - The Alan Parsons Project (modern adaptation)
The Tell Tale Heart- Music only Video
The Tell-Tale Heart – United Streaming (6:54)

8. Theme - Time References to time and clocks
Some questions of time in the story are never answered

9. Why did it take eight days for the narrator to kill the old man?
The events in the narrator's story occur over eight days. Is this significant? If so, why? Why would the narrator give us this detail, but not the month, or the year?
How might the narrator have spent those first seven days? Do you think he sleeps? Why or why not?
Shmoop video

10. Time Quotes
“It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed.” (3)
suggests extreme loneliness
Narrator has trouble sleeping
 This moment is when we first begin to notice there's something funny going on with time.

11. “And this I did for seven long nights – every night just at midnight
All bad things happen after midnight!

12. “A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. “(4)
The narrator sees himself as a kind of clock, counting down to the old man's death.

13. Who thinks the narrator is mad?
What is a “vulture eye”?
Why would he kill the old man over his eye?
How can the narrator hear the old man’s beating heart?
What is vexed? What is stealthily?
Is the narrator insane?

14. During what part of the action does Poe begin his story?
How does Poe use punctuation and repetition to show how nervous or excited the narrator is?
What is the effect of Poe’s choice to begin the story after the action has taken place?

15. Poe Glog

16. Vocabulary Conceived Cunningly Deputed Dismembered Enveloped Grated
Hypocritical
Profound
Raved

17. Conceived
V. To think of

18. Cunningly
Clever in a tricky way

19. Deputed
To assign

20. Dismembered
To cut the arms and legs off

21. Enveloped
To cover completely

22. Grated
To rub something noisily against another object
Washboard Music

23. Hypocrite
One who pretends to have qualities he or she does not have

24. Profound
Deep; wise

25. Raved To talk like an insane person
talk wildly or incoherently, as if one were delirious or insane

26. Vocabulary Acute Dissimulation Profound Sagacity Crevice Suavity
Gesticulations
Derision

27. Acute
Bloodhounds have an acute sense of smell.

28. dissimulation
When Bruce Wayne donned his Batman costume his dissimulation was complete for no one would recognize him.

29. sagacity
Even though he had never played chess before, his sagacity made him a skillful opponent.
Pronunciation

30. crevice
As a result of the earthquake, a long crevice appeared in the road.

31. crevasse
a deep crevice or fissure (as in a glacier or the earth)

32. suavity N.
Graceful politeness

33. acute
Adj.
sensitive

34. dissimulation N.
The hiding of one’s feelings or purposes

35. sagacity N. High intelligence and sound judgment
Ability to make wise decisions.

36. crevice N.
A narrow opening

37. suavity Pronunciation
Many advertisers use suavity as a means to sell a product.

38. gesticulations
Noun
A deliberate, vigorous motion or gesture

39. derision
Derision in school can hurt.

40. derision N.
Contempt; ridicule

43. gesticulations Pronunciation
Gesticulations are an important component of sign language for the deaf.