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Year 8

Reading 'The Tell-Tale Heart'

I can explain the overarching plot of the 'Tell Tale Heart'.

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New
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Year 8

Reading 'The Tell-Tale Heart'

I can explain the overarching plot of the 'Tell Tale Heart'.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. ’The Tell-Tale Heart’ is the story about the murder of an old man.
  2. The narrator did not murder for money but for fear of the man's blue eyes.
  3. The narrator kills the man as he worries a neighbour may hear the loud beating of his heart.
  4. The narrator dismembers the body and hides it under the floorboards.
  5. The narrator continues to hear the beating heart of the dead man, which leads him to confess.

Keywords

  • Paranoia - suspicion and mistrust of other people or their actions that is not rational

  • Methodical - taking a systematic and organised approach to something

  • Dissimulation - pretence - hiding one’s true thoughts or feelings

  • Sane - being of sound and sensible mind

  • Delusional - holding irrational or untrue beliefs - in this context, as a result of mental illness

Common misconception

Students might not recognise that there is a possibility that the sound of the old man's heart beating, may be the sound of the narrator's own heart beating.

Some may interpret the sound of the old man's heart beating as the sound of the narrator's own heart beating, with anticipation and excitement at the prospect of the imminent murder.


To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Reading 'The Tell-Tale Heart', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

There are some fantastic cartoon adaptations of this text that might be worth showing to students whilst they read, or after they have read the text.
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Teacher tip
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Equipment

You will need access to a copy of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' for this lesson. It's available in the additional materials.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Gothic protagonists are usually egotistical and ....
modest
Correct answer: isolated
sociable
charismatic
moral
Q2.
What can the colour yellow symbolise?
Correct answer: illness
love
Correct answer: betrayal
family
evil
Q3.
Which century was 1843 in?
17th
18th
Correct answer: 19th
20th
21st
Q4.
Which of the following statements is true about the 19th century?
The 19th century was also known as the Enlightenment period
The 19th century saw the first Industrial Revolution
Correct answer: Gothic literature was popularised in the 19th century
Correct answer: The 19th century was a time of great innovation and invention
Q5.
Which of the following words might mean 'to take a systematic and organised approach to something'?
dissimulation
sane
Correct answer: methodical
delusional
paranoia
Q6.
Which of the following explains the effect of this quotation: "He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it."
The eye is presented as beautiful and enchanting
Correct answer: The eye is presented as repulsive and hideous
The eye is presented as vulgar and offensive
The eye is presented as extremely ordinary and usual

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Who wrote 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?
Mary Anne Shelley
Charlotte Anne Brontë
Ethan William Jones
Correct answer: Edgar Allan Poe
Matthew Spencer Raven
Q2.
Which of the following statements is true about short stories?
they are more popular in the United Kingdom than America
Correct answer: you should be able to read one in between 20 and 60 minutes
Correct answer: each word has to work extra hard, so writers have to craft them very carefully
they are easier to write than novels
Q3.
What nationality was Edgar Allan Poe?
British
Canadian
Australian
South-African
Correct answer: American
Q4.
What drives the narrator in Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' to commit murder?
his desire for the old man's money
Correct answer: a fear of the old man's pale, blue eye
his hatred of the old man, who is frequently rude to him
his dislike of himself and jealousy of the old man
Q5.
Why does the narrator in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' confess to his crimes?
he gets pleasure from relaying his crimes to others
he wants to go to prison to protect others
Correct answer: he is convinced that the police already know he committed the crime
he feels extremely ashamed and remorseful for what he has done
Correct answer: he believes he hears the sound of the old man's heart -this makes him frenzied
Q6.
Starting with the first, put the events of 'The Tell-Tale Heart' in chronological order.
1 - The narrator tells us about his hatred of the old man's 'evil eye'.
2 - The narrator sneaks into the old man's room seven nights in a row.
3 - On the 8th night, the narrator accidentally wakes the old man up.
4 - The narrator chuckles at the thought of the old man's fear.
5 - The narrator thinks he hears the old man's heart beating, so he kills him.
6 - The police visit, but they are unaware that the body is under the floorboards.
7 - The narrator hears the old man's heart beating and hysterically confesses.

Additional material

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