The Tell-Tale Heart

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. What animal does the narrator compare the old man’s eye to?

2. What does the narrator do every night for a week prior to the old man’s murder?

3. What does the light shine upon when the narrator opens the door to the old man’s room?

4. What does the narrator insist that their self-proclaimed “over acuteness of the senses” is being misinterpreted as?

5. Which noise torments the narrator at the end of the story?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What physical aspect of the old man unnerves the narrator? What do they decide to do to rectify the issue?

2. In the moments before the murder, what sound does the narrator hear? How does it lead them to perform the crime?

3. What does the narrator do with the old man’s corpse? How do they feel about the way they handled the aftermath of the murder?

4. Why do the policemen visit the house? What does the narrator do to appease them?

5. Why does the narrator insist that the policemen tear up the floorboards? How does this request contradict the narrator’s earlier beliefs?