derision


 * Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this __derision__!**

The Tell-Tale Heart.

As i comprehended this line of the story //The Tell-Tale Heart//, is that Poe **(The narrator/murderer is not Poe. user:brtom)** is literally going **crazy**. He has just killed a man, and now that he is in the presence of 3 police officers, he begins to get nervous and suspect that they (the officers) know something of his grotesque actions. Poe then convinces himself that they know exactly what is going on, and what had happened prior to their arrival that he starts yelling, cursing, shrieking, crying, everything.. All he wants is for them to admit to him, that they are torturing him..

As you read on, the last lines of the short tale end up giving an explanation - does he admit to the crime? Well, yes. Poe does end up admitting to the crime he committed, but not because he was asked too, or forced to. He did it under pressure.

I looked up the word derision on the free online dictionary.

1197043695
 * **Adj.** || **1.** || **derisive** - abusing vocally; expressing contempt or ridicule; "derisive laughter"; "a jeering crowd"; "her mocking smile"; "taunting shouts of `coward' and `sissy'" ||