Tran 1 Gia Uyen Tran Padmaja Vedula ENGL 1102 06 June 2021 The Tell- Tale Heart 1. How does setting contribute to the intention of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"? The story is always placed in the dead of night, where the only light that might be seen is from the lamp. The night is always more scary and mysterious. Everything can be seen clearly during the day but in the pitch black darkness of night in the house, you could not even see your hands in front of you. 2. How does the narrator exhibit paranoia in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"? Two ways, one is the main character himself. He always spends so much time to make sure that he is careful and is not seen or heard. The second person is the victim when he hears the noise. He does not lay back down to sleep but just sits there. The main character knows the victim is thinking, “ It is nothing but the wind in the chimney--it is only a mouse crossing the floor … it is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp” (Poe). This thought process exhibits the paronoia in the victim. 3. How does Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" exemplify the Gothic tradition's obsession with passion? How the main character is so obsessive and focused on the details when he plans to watch the man. He moves so slowly and is very passonite when talking about the murder and how he is not mad. Tran 2 4. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," why might Edgar Allan Poe have made the decision to create an unreliable narrator? It adds some sort of uneasiness to the story. It does not feel safe and secure, it adds to the erie feeling of a story. 5. In "The Tell-Tale Heart" how does Edgar Allan Poe manage to create a sense of mystery even when the narrator discloses the murder in the beginning of the story? Yes, the narrarator talks so vaguely. He mentions heaven and earth and how he can hear them and he is not mad. He then continues that point byh pointing of the steps and the carefulness in his murder. 6. What evidence is provided that the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" is male? “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing” this sentence leaves me with the impression that he is not a woman but a man (Poe). 7. Do you believe the narrator to be sane or insane, reliable or not? I believe that he is insane and unreliable. The way he talks is obsessive. He also hears the heartbeat of the man he killed under the floor board. It was just in his head but it got louder and louder until he was eventually unable to bear it. 8. What evidence is there that the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" is female? There is no evidence that the narrator is female. Tran 3 Work Cited “The Tell-Tale Heart--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849).” Classic Short Stories, www.classicshorts.com/stories/telltale.html.