Starter quiz
- What is a symbol?
- a character who represents an approach
- an object that represents an idea ✓
- a narrative structure
- an object that represents the characters
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- At which points in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' does the narrator hear the beating heart of the old man?
- in the beginning when he spies on the old man
- when he sneaks into the old man's room and is hiding in wait to kill him ✓
- when the police first arrive at the house, just after he has killed the old man
- when the police have sat down and are conversing with the narrator ✓
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- Which words are used to describe the old man's eye in 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?
- "pale, blue, vulture-like" ✓
- "milky, white, rat-like"
- "pale, opaque and eel-like"
- "blue, bright, snake-like"
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- Robbers intrude on people's homes. What might 'to intrude' mean?
- to enter somewhere you are not supposed to be ✓
- to say something you are not supposed to say
- to take something that is not yours
- to move something away from its correct home
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- How does the narrator in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' murder the old man?
- he stabs him and then lets him bleed out
- he strangles him with his bare hands
- he hits him over the head with a floor board
- he smothers him with his own bed ✓
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- Which of the following quotations best shows the narrator's hysteria and loss of control in 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?
- "But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed."
- "I bade the gentlemen welcome."
- "Oh God! what could I do? I foamed—I raved—I swore!" ✓
- "Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. "
- "You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution"
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Exit quiz
- Which of the following is not a theme in 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?
- guilt
- death
- family ✓
- justice
- madness/sanity
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- Which of the following are explanations of the symbolism of eyes in 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?
- eyes represent a lack of clarity - what the narrator cannot see
- eyes represent hatred and fear because the narrator hates the old man
- eyes represent moral or spiritual judgement and this frightens the narrator ✓
- eyes represent truth and the idea of seeing someone for who they truly are ✓
- eyes represent guidance and support, as the eye guides the narrator
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- Which of the following quotations from 'The Tell-Tale Heart' best supports the idea that the old man's eye symbolises spiritual judgement?
- "I kept quite still and said nothing"
- "here, here!—It is the beating of his hideous heart!”
- "dull blue with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones" ✓
- "it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye"
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- Which of the following does the sound of the beating heart in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' not symbolise?
- time running out for the old man
- time running out for the narrator
- the narrator's intense guilt
- the narrator's paranoia
- the knock of the police on the door ✓
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- If the beating heart in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' represents the narrator's guilt, then what point might Poe be trying to suggest about guilt?
- that guilt is fleeting and passes with time
- that guilt is an emotion that everybody has to experience in their life
- that guilt is an emotion that can be ignored in the moment
- that guilt is inescapable and will haunt a person ✓
- that guilt always drives a person to insanity
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- Why might a writer use symbolism?
- to make their text more sophisticated and impressive
- to make the reading experience more multi-sensory for the reader
- to reveal hidden or deeper meanings to the reader ✓
- to reflect the various characters in the story
- to move the plot along in the story
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Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Symbolism is where writers use objects, characters, or elements in their work, to represent deeper ideas and themes.
- Poe uses the old man’s eye to symbolise intrusion, truth and moral or spiritual judgement in the story.
- Poe uses the heart beat to symbolise the narrator’s guilt, paranoia and time running out.
- Symbols allow the writer to communicate hidden or deeper meanings within the text.
- When writing about a writer’s use of symbolism, it is always important to discuss why it has been used.
Common misconception
Students often do not understand the depth of meaning that symbolism can provide.
Symbols communicate hidden or deeper meanings to the reader, so that they can better understand the characters or themes of the text.
Keywords
Symbolism - where writers use objects, characters, or elements in their work, to represent deeper ideas and themes
Spiritual judgement - the idea that people are morally-judged by a higher, spiritual being
Recurring - if something recurs, it repeatedly occurs - it keeps happening
Intrusion - when someone wrongfully enters a space they shouldn’t be - this can be physical or metaphorical space
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