Edgar Allan Poe Literature Project - (E)

The Tell-Tale Heart 
Edgar Allan Poe
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EngelsMiddelbare schoolhavo, vwoLeerjaar 3,4

This lesson contains 43 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 5 videos.

time-iconLesson duration is: 90 min

Items in this lesson

The Tell-Tale Heart 
Edgar Allan Poe

Slide 1 - Slide

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  • The following lessons will prepare you to write an essay comparing Edgar Allan Poe stories and a poem from several perspectives.

  • The lessons will entail reading and analysing two short stories and one poem together. You will do research along the way.

  • Finally, you will write your essay and hand it in to be graded.

Slide 2 - Slide

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The story The tell-tale heart

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Slide 4 - Video

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Gothic Fiction
 Gothic Fiction, according to Shmoop.com, is one of the easiest genres to spot. And it's also one of the most fun to explore, as long as you don't mind taking a walk on the nastier side of life. Snapped minds, crypt-like spaces, actual crypts, death and dismemberment, fear, the extremes of human behavior, a juxtaposition of the "sacred" and the "profane" – these are some of the sure signs you're in a Gothic story, or at least a Gothic moment.

(https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/tell-tale-heart/analysis/genre)

Slide 5 - Slide

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What elements in the story make The Tell-Tale Heart gothic fiction?

Slide 6 - Mind map

insanity
dismemberment
death
fear
extreme human behaviour

Highlights from the19th-century were Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Other literary wonders are 'Wuthering heights' (1847) van Emily Brontë and her sister Charlotte's 'Jane Eyre' (1847). A later, well-known (Victorian) novel in this genre is Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' from 1897.
Carmilla, by Sheridan Le Fanu was inspired by the same themes with vampires (female), mystery and Romance.


Slide 7 - Slide

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Explain the title:
The Tell-Tale Heart

Slide 8 - Open question

It's the heart that finally gives the murderer away
Assignment:
Look up information about The Tell-Tale Heart.
Things like: theme, symbolism and narrator point of view.
Also look up information about narrator point of view in general. Write down your findings and bring to class. 

! Write down your sources!

Due: Tuesday 18 May

Slide 9 - Slide

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What have you found about the theme(s) of the story?

Slide 10 - Open question

Examples:

Madness and sanity: the narrator’s attempt to prove his sanity as he explains his meticulous plans for killing the old man only prove his madness.

The pressure of guilt: though he claims to be innocent and justified in his actions, the narrator’s guilt manifests in the sound of the dead man’s beating heart.

The passage of time: the recurring references to time emphasize the narrator’s obsession with time and its effect on his psyche.
What can you say about the symbolism in the story?

Slide 11 - Open question

The two main symbols in the story are the "tell-tale heart," which is the heart of the dead and dismembered man that beats so loudly that the guilty murderer can hear it, and the old man's "vulture eye." The heart beating beneath the floor boards represents the narrator's guilt. 
What different narrator's points of view have you found?

Slide 12 - Open question

First person
Second person
Third person:
- omniscient
- multiple
- limited
- objective
Who is the narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart?

Slide 13 - Open question

The murderer
What's the irony when it comes to the narrator?

Slide 14 - Open question

ironic: his own speech betrays himself ( for policemen.
the policemen are villains in his view, but he is actually the villain!
He thinks the policemen make fun of him.
He thinks he is not mad, but the more he explains and to convinces the reader, the reader think he is mad.
Give some examples of why he thinks he is so clever

Slide 15 - Mind map

His description of how he goes into the old man's bedroom every night. Taking an hour to get his head through the door.

The ease with which he convinces the policemen that nothing's the matter.

Slide 16 - Video

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The Cask of Amontillado 
Edgar Allan Poe

Slide 17 - Slide

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What are some characteristics of gothic literature?

Slide 18 - Mind map

Snapped minds, crypt-like spaces, actual crypts, death and dismemberment, fear, the extremes of human behavior, a juxtaposition of the "sacred" and the "profane"

According to the website (with 10 points) on the next page:
Mystery and fear
Omens and Curses
Villain

Slide 19 - Link

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Slide 20 - Video

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Gothic elements in
The Cask of Amontillado

Slide 21 - Mind map

death
fear
extreme human behaviour
dark setting (cellar)
villain - victim

Overview
With the use of the next slides we will be analysing The Cask of Amontillado.

We will focus on:
- Dramatic Irony
- Unreliable Narrator

Ask questions whenever you feel like it.

Slide 22 - Slide

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What are the themes in The Cask of Amontillado?

Slide 23 - Mind map

revenge
pride
disguise (both are wearing carnaval costumes)
What is the setting of the narrative?
A
Carnaval
B
Catacombs
C
Winecellar
D
Somewhere in France

Slide 24 - Quiz

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What is 'irony'?

Slide 25 - Open question

For instance:
incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result -- often opposite
(see example Alanis Morisette's Ironic)

Slide 26 - Video

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Alanis Morissette's Ironic
Mr. Play-It-Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well, isn't this nice."

Slide 27 - Slide

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Dramatic Irony
A literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character's words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

Slide 28 - Slide

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Dramatic Irony
in this short story

Slide 29 - Mind map

Perhaps they already know a few. If not, it will be the assignment for next lesson.
Who's the narrator of this short story?
A
Fortunato
B
Edgar Allen Poe
C
Montresor
D
Amontillado

Slide 30 - Quiz

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Assignment
Find (more) examples of Dramatic Irony in the text and try to identify signs of the unreliable narrator.

DUE DATE:        Friday 21 May

Slide 31 - Slide

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Dramatic Irony
in this short story

Slide 32 - Mind map

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Page 3
"I shall not die of a cough."

"True, true," I replied.

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Page 4
"I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us."

"And I to your long life."

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Page 4
"And the motto?"

"Nemo me impune lacessit."      

"Good!" he said.

--> No one provokes me with impunity.

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Page 5
"You are not of the masons."
 
"Yes, yes," I said; "yes, yes."

"You? Impossible! A mason?"

"A mason," I replied.

"A sign," he said, "a sign."


Slide 36 - Slide

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Is Montresor a reliable narrator and if so, why (not)?

Slide 37 - Open question

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Slide 38 - Link

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Slide 40 - Link

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Slide 41 - Video

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Are there any questions you have left that haven't been answered? What are they?

Slide 42 - Open question

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Do you have any questions left? What are they?

Slide 43 - Open question

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