The Tell-Tale Heart

Essential Questions: What makes a story suspenseful? How can guilt affect our behavior? How do authors create mood?

Watch the “The Amazing Life of Edgar Allan Poe” video to introduce students to the famous author of the short story on which the play they are about to read is based. After watching, give students a few minutes to share anything they found particularly interesting or surprising, or anything the video made them curious about.

Write “What is suspense?” on the board. Brainstorm the answer as a class before reviewing the definition: a feeling of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen. Ask students to share examples of real-life situations that might be suspenseful (such as watching the final 10 seconds of a close basketball game) as well as examples of suspense from their favorite books, movies, and shows.

Project the Google Slides version of Vocabulary: Definitions and Practice on your whiteboard. Review the definitions and complete the activity as a class. Highlighted words: dissemble, grisly, keen, mortal, placidly, skulks, vexed. Audio pronunciations of the words and a read-aloud of the definitions are embedded on the slides. Optionally, print the PDF version or share the slideshow link to your LMS and have students preview the words and complete the activity independently before class.

Invite a volunteer to read the As You Read box on page 21 or at the top of the digital story page.

Assign parts and read the play aloud as a class.

Divide students into groups to discuss the following Discussion Questions, which are also located in the Resources tab.

1. Describe the mood of the prologue. Which words and phrases help build that mood? (mood, author’s craft) Answers will vary. The mood is spooky. Words like “long shadows” and “a thin, pale man” create an unsettling feeling. The references to “bloodcurdling tales” and “murder and morgues” hint that the story will be creepy and disturbing. The ravens help build an eerie mood as well by talking in unison and appearing and disappearing. 

2. Based on his description of the Old Man in Scene 1, what can you tell about the Villain’s state of mind? (character, inference) The descriptions of the Old Man in Scene 1, including him “placidly drinking his cup of tea” and asking after the Villain’s well-being, depict him as a gentle, kind man. The Villain says that the Old Man “had never done me harm,” but he still decides to kill him because of his eye. This shows that the Villain is not thinking logically. He sees the eye as “evil” and says it “haunted” him. The Villain’s actions show that he is not in control of his thoughts, even though he insists he is sane.

3. In Scene 2, the Villain says that looking at the Old Man’s eye “chilled the very marrow in my bones!” What does this expression mean? (figurative language) This line shows just how deeply disturbed the Villain feels when he sees the Old Man’s eye. The marrow is the inside part of a bone, so saying something “chilled” it means that the fear or disgust went very deep.

4. Mundane means unimportant, dull, or boring. What makes the dialogue between the Officer, Sergeant, and Constable in Scene 4 mundane? What purpose does their dialogue serve in the play? (character, author’s craft, text structure) The dialogue between the Officer, Sergeant, and Constable in Scene 4 is mundane because they are talking about unimportant things such as the seasons and tea. The purpose of their dialogue is to create tension. The combination of the characters’ mundane comments and the beating of the Old Man’s heart begins to agitate the Villain more and more as the scene progresses. Eventually, the Villain convinces himself that the characters are mocking him with their polite conversation, leading him to confess to his crime of killing the Old Man. 

5. The ravens are not part of Poe’s original story. How do they contribute to the mood and to our understanding of the story? (mood, author’s craft) The ravens add an eerie quality, partly because ravens are often associated with death. The ravens also offer the reader a clue about the Villain’s state of mind: He appears to be the only character who is aware of the ravens. Clearly, his reality is different from that of the other characters. The ravens also emphasize the Villain’s emotions by repeating his statements. (In addition, the ravens are an allusion to Poe’s famous poem “The Raven.”) 

6. What is the effect of the Villain speaking directly to the audience throughout the play? (author’s craft) When the Villain speaks directly to the audience, it makes the play feel more personal and intense. It draws us into his thoughts, almost like we’re inside his mind. This technique makes the audience question whether to trust him, especially since he insists he’s sane while describing very disturbing actions. It also builds suspense because we know what he’s thinking before the other characters do. The direct address makes his breakdown feel more real and immediate, almost like we’re witnessing his guilt take over in real time.       

Have students listen to our immersive read-aloud of the original short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Have students compare and contrast the play version of the story with the original story by Poe. (Alternatively, you could have students listen to the original story first!) The immersive read-aloud is located in the Resources tab in Teacher View and at the top of the story page in Student View.

Watch the “What’s the Mood?” video to explore what mood is and how it’s created. Optionally, pass out our Mood Words handout, which includes a bank of words to help students identify mood in any text.

Have students complete the Featured Skill Activity: Author’s Craft. This activity will prepare them to respond to the writing prompt on page 24 in the printed magazine and at the bottom of the digital story page:

How does the author create a suspenseful mood in The Tell-Tale Heart? Support your ideas with text evidence.

Alternatively, have students choose a task from the Choice Board, a menu of culminating tasks. Our Choice Board options include the writing prompt from the magazine, differentiated versions of the writing prompt, and additional creative ways for students to demonstrate their understanding of a story or article.