Tell-Tale Heart Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which behavior most clearly shows the narrator’s confidence while speaking with the police?
Refusing to let the officers enter the old man’s room
Placing a chair directly above the concealed remains
Claiming never to have known the old man
Leaving the house while the officers conduct their search
2. During the conversation with the officers, the narrator believes a sound is becoming louder. What is it believed to be?
The beating of the dead man’s heart beneath the floor
A clock ticking inside the old man’s room
Someone knocking repeatedly at the front door
The officers tapping their feet against the floor
3. What does the narrator do with the old man’s body after the murder?
Buries it beneath stones in the cellar
Places it in a trunk to be carried out later
Dismembers it and hides the pieces beneath the floorboards
Leaves it in bed and stages a natural death
4. Which description most closely matches the old man’s eye?
A dark eye clouded by blindness
A green eye marked by a scar
A pale blue eye covered by a film
A bloodshot eye that never fully closes
5. The police remain calm while the narrator becomes increasingly distressed. What can a reader most reasonably infer from this contrast?
The officers have already found the concealed body
The old man survived and is secretly signaling the officers
The officers are deliberately creating the heartbeat sound
The narrator’s own fear or guilt is driving the crisis
6. A reader notices that the narrator repeatedly claims to be sane while describing irrational conduct. Which literary effect does this create?
It establishes the old man as the secret narrator
It makes the narrator’s account unreliable
It turns the story into an objective police report
It proves that every supernatural detail is literal
7. According to the narrator, what chiefly drives the decision to kill the old man?
Fear that the old man will report an earlier crime
A dispute over money the narrator believes is owed
The old man’s habit of insulting the narrator
The old man’s pale blue, film-covered eye
8. How does the narrator approach the old man’s room during the nights before the murder?
By slowly opening the door and directing a covered lantern inward
By entering quickly whenever the old man snores
By watching through a gap outside the window
By hiding inside the room before sunset
9. Why do police officers come to the house?
A neighbor heard a shriek during the night
The old man had reported the narrator earlier that week
A servant noticed blood outside the bedroom
The narrator sent a message asking them to investigate
10. Why is the title “The Tell-Tale Heart” especially fitting?
The old man reveals secrets by listening to heartbeats
The perceived heartbeat becomes the sign that compels the narrator to reveal the crime
The narrator writes a confession inside a medical book
A heart-shaped mark provides evidence for the police
11. While the old man waits awake in darkness, the narrator hears a groan. How does the narrator interpret it?
As evidence that the old man recognizes the intruder
As the sound of the old man preparing to attack
As a groan produced by mortal terror
As proof that another person is hiding nearby
12. The narrator enters for seven nights without attacking. What best explains the delay?
The lantern repeatedly goes out before the narrator enters
The old man remains surrounded by visitors each night
The narrator has not yet found the key to the floorboards
The hated eye is closed each time, so the narrator claims there is no reason to act
13. At the beginning of the story, what does the narrator insist proves sanity?
A doctor has examined and cleared the narrator
The crime can be described calmly and precisely
The police never suspected anything unusual
The old man had openly threatened violence
14. What changes on the eighth night and sets the final sequence in motion?
The old man announces that he plans to leave the house
The police knock before the narrator reaches the bedroom
A noise made by the narrator wakes and alarms the old man
The old man discovers that his money has disappeared
15. How does the narrator kill the old man?
By pulling the heavy bed over him and smothering him
By poisoning a drink beside his bed
By pushing him down the stairs
By striking him with the lantern
16. Which contrast creates the story’s strongest irony?
The old man fears thieves but owns nothing valuable
The narrator dislikes darkness but acts only at night
The police arrive before the crime but fail to prevent it
The narrator boasts of careful planning but ultimately confesses