THE TELL TALE HEART
Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe
Name : ________________________________
Date : _________________
A. Multiple Choice Questions : Circle the letter of the most suitable answer. [12
marks]
How was the man feeling at the opening of the story?
(a) angry
(b) nervous
Free
1.
(c)
sad
The narrator claims that his sense of _________________ has become more acute because of his
disease.
(a) sight
(b) smell
(c) hearing
3.
What made the narrator kill the old man finally?
(a) his gold
(b) his ‘heart beat’
4.
Previe
2.
(c)
his pale blue eye
“So I opened it – you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily – until at length, a single dim
w
ray, like the thread of the spider, shot out from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture
eye. It was open-wide, wide open – and I grew furious as I gazed upon it.
What is the meaning of the underlined word?
(a) cautiously
(b) carelessly
(c)
loudly
5.
What figurative language can you identify from the passage above?
(a) simile and allusion
(b) simile and metaphor
(c) metaphor and onomatopoeia
(d) hyperbole and alliteration
6.
Where did the narrator put the old man’s body parts after killing and disembodying him?
(a) under the planks of the kitchen floor
(b) buried in the old man’s garden
(c) in the bath tub
(d) in the old man’s attic
7.
‘There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the
police.’
Why did the police come to the house?
(a) Loud noises had been heard by a neighbor during the night.
(b) A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night.
(c) A shriek had been heard by the police during the night.
Read the following passage and answer questions 8, 9 and 10.
‘I smiled,—for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in
a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house.
I bade them search—search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures,
secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired
them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph,
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placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. The
officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them.
Why wasn’t the narrator afraid when the police officers came?
(a) He had prepared to kill the police officers.
(b) The police officers were his close friends.
(c) He believed he had destroyed all evidences of the murder.
9.
How did the narrator explain about where the old man was?
(a) He said the old man was sleeping in his chamber.
(b) He said that the old man was out of the country.
(c) He said that he didn’t know where the old man was.
Free
8.
11.
Previe
10. Read the underlined sentence. What made the officers satisfied that no ‘foul play’ has been
committed in the house?
(a) The old man came out and told the police officers that the shriek was him in a dream.
(b) All the old man’s treasures were undisturbed and the narrator’s welcoming manner had
convinced them.
(c) All the furniture in the house was in order and the old man came out and talked to
them.
w
How did the police find out that the narrator had killed the old man?
(a) A neighbor said he saw the man kill the old man.
(b) The police found the body when they searched the house.
(c) The man screamed and said “I admit the deed!”.
12. What could be the real meaning of the title “The tell-tale heart”?
(a) It could mean the kind-hearted old man.
(b) It could mean the heart that tells a tale.
(c) It could mean the bad-hearted narrator.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Start your sentence with a capital letter and
end it with a full-stop. (13 marks):
1.
What is the climax of the story? [1]
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2.
The narrator seems untrustworthy or unreliable.
statement. [2]
Mention two reasons to support this
(a) __________________________________________________________________________________
(b) __________________________________________________________________________________
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