The tell tale heart

« PART 3 The heart and I 1.

Read the first paragraph and complete the conversation between the neighbor and the police officer. ''What is the reason for your call ?'' ''I'm calling because I heard a horrible SHRIEK / SCREAM / YELL / CRY in my neighbor's house.

My neighbor is a bit STRANGE / WEIRD / ODD.

He lives alone with an OLD MAN.

I'm afraid the OLD MAN is in danger.

I think there might be FOUL PLAY. 2.

Read the rest of the text.

Put the different stages of the narrator's behavior in the right order.

Find one example from the text to illustrate each stage. agitated - cheerful - welcoming - raving mad - nervous Stage First Behavior WELCOMING Quote from the text l.

7: "I bade the gentlemen welcome." Second CHEERFUL l.

7: "I smiled, for what had I to fear?" l.

10: "in the enthusiasm of my confidence..." Third NERVOUS l.

16 and following: "I felt myself getting pale..." Fourth AGITATED l.

22-23: "I arose and argued about trifles in a high key and with violent gesticulations" Fifth RAVING MAD l.

33: "I felt that I must scream or die!" l.

34: " 'Villains', I shrieked.

'Dissemble no more'". 3.

Say what causes the narrator's agitation.

Where does it come from ? The narrator gets more and more agitated because he is convinced that he is hearing a heartbeat which grows louder and louder: he thinks that it is the old man's heart still beating under the floor. A gradation is a figure of speech.

It consists of the reformulation of one same idea with words of increasing intensity.

''They heard ! They suspected ! They knew ! '' (l.

30) Find another example in the text. l.

27: "I foamed – I raved – I swore" 4.

Read the definitions of the mental disorders of paranoia and schizophrenia.

Illustrate the elements in bold with quotes from the text. Schizophrenia : the narrator has the symptoms of a serious a.

mental disorder called schizophrenia.

b.

He hears things that others do not hear, and he believes that people are out to c.

get him.

His d.

thinking is distorted, and he has e.

lost touch with reality. Paranoia : a mental condition characterized by f.

delusions of persecution, the g.

obsession of being observed and criticized,.... »