Analyzing Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’: Vocabulary and Comprehension

Posted on Nov 5, 2025 in English Language and Literature

Vocabulary and Synonyms for “The Tell-Tale Heart”

  1. Disturbed, annoyed, troubled: VEXED
  2. Careful, cautious, leery: WARY
  3. Boldness, daring, brazenness: AUDACITY
  4. Withheld, repressed, held back: REFRAINED
  5. Forcefully, passionately, furiously: VEHEMENTLY
  6. Smoothness, politeness, fine manners: SUAVITY
  7. Gestures, wild movements, spasms: GESTICULATIONS
  8. Scorn, ridicule, contempt: DERISION
  9. Sharp, sensitive, severe: ACUTE
  10. Intelligence, smarts, good sense: SAGACITY

Reading Comprehension Questions

  1. Why does the narrator decide to kill the old man?

    The narrator decides to kill the old man because he hates the old man’s eye, which he describes as resembling that of a vulture.

  2. Why does the narrator think he is not mad?

    The narrator does not think he is mad because he is able to recount his whole story clearly and because he was able to carefully plan the murder, demonstrating foresight and caution.

  3. Who arrives at the narrator’s door at night? Why have they come?

    Police officers arrive at the narrator’s door at night. They have come because a neighbor heard a scream and reported it to the police.

  4. Why does the narrator finally confess to his crime?

    The narrator finally confesses to his crime because he believes he can’t stand the sound of the old man’s heartbeat, which he imagines is growing louder and louder, driving him to panic.

True or False Statements

  1. The storyteller hears a watch ticking. False. (He hears a sound similar to a watch, but it is the imagined beating of the old man’s heart.)
  2. The noise makes him angry. True.
  3. He tries to keep still but can’t because he is so emotional. False. (He is able to stay motionless for a long time while stalking the old man.)
  4. The noise gradually becomes stronger. True.
  5. He becomes worried that a neighbor might be able to hear the noise. True.
  6. He attacks the old man in darkness. False. (He opens the lantern the moment he attacks, letting light fall upon the eye.)
  7. The old man makes no sound. False. (He shrieks once.)
  8. He kills the old man in his bed. False. (He pulls him to the floor and pulls the heavy bed on top of him.)
  9. Death is almost instant. True. (According to the storyteller, the old man’s heart continues beating for some time; however, it is unlikely that the sound is the old man’s actual heart.)
  10. He hides the body under the floorboards of the old man’s bedroom. True.
  11. The police arrive in the early hours of the morning. True.
  12. He is nervous that the policemen are in his house. False. (He is calm and confident at first, believing his crime is undetectable.)
  13. He sits and talks to the policemen in the old man’s bedroom. True.
  14. He starts to hear the same sound as before. True. (Although the sound is first described as a ‘ringing,’ he goes on to describe it as being like the sound ‘a watch makes’ enveloped in his ears.)
  15. He starts to panic. True.
  16. The policemen find it easy to force him to confess to the murder. False. (The policemen do nothing; he confesses without being forced, driven by his own guilt and paranoia.)

Deeper Literary Analysis

  1. Who is telling this story? Is it first, second, or third person?

    The story is told in the first person. The reader can tell this by the narrator’s use of personal pronouns such as “I” and “my.” Poe does not use third-person narration (“he” or “she”) to describe the protagonist.

  2. What is your first impression of the narrator? What does he try convincing the reader of?

    My first impression of the narrator is that he is unstable and possibly insane. The narrator tries to convince readers that he is not a madman by emphasizing his careful planning and composure.

  3. How does the narrator feel about the old man in general? What, then, specifically, is it about the old man that troubles/bothers the narrator? Why? How often does the narrator mention this ‘thing’ in the story?

    The narrator makes it clear from the beginning that his feelings towards the old man are generally warm and positive, stating he had no motive of passion or greed. Specifically, the narrator is troubled by the old man’s eye, which is covered in a filmy substance and resembles “that of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over.” The narrator is obviously disturbed and terrified that this eye is an “Evil Eye” capable of seeing into his deepest fears and violent plans. Poe’s narrator is obsessed with this eye, mentioning it frequently as the sole reason for the murder.

  4. What does the narrator tell us he does every night? Why?

    The narrator becomes convinced that the old man’s cloudy eye is the “Evil Eye” capable of causing him harm. Every night, for seven nights, the narrator watches the old man while he sleeps. The narrator is determined to get rid of the possible curse that the Evil Eye can put on him, so he decides to kill the old man. That is why he stalks the old man in his room every night, waiting until he is ready to commit the murder.

  5. How does the narrator feel immediately after he commits the murder? Do his feelings change? If so, how and why?

    Immediately after he commits the murder, the narrator feels very calm and confident, even boasting about his cunning disposal of the body. However, while he is talking to the police officers, his feelings change drastically. He starts feeling immense guilt and paranoia, which manifests as an auditory hallucination: he imagines the sound of the heart beating beneath the floorboards. He thinks that the officers can also hear the sound and that they are mocking him or setting a trap. Driven by this unbearable noise and paranoia, he ends up confessing the murder.