Based on the author’s details in the passage, the character of the old man can be described as fearful. The text highlights his mortal terror, as indicated by his groans and his inability to lie down in bed due to his anxiety about the sounds he hears. His attempts to reassure himself about the noises are ultimately in vain, revealing a deep-seated fear of the unknown and the presence of death.
The Tell Tale Heart
by Edgar Allen Poe
I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out—”Who’s there?”
I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening;—just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief—oh, no!—it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself—”It is nothing but the wind in the chimney—it is only a mouse crossing the floor,” or “It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp.” Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel—although he neither saw nor heard—to feel the presence of my head within the room.
"The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
How would you describe the character of the old man, based on the author’s details?
(1 point)
Responses
unconcerned
unconcerned
unaware
unaware
cruel
cruel
fearful
fearful
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1 answer