Read the excerpt from the climax of "The Tell-Tale Heart."

"Villains!” I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks! here, here!—It is the beating of his hideous heart!”

Which theme does this climax most connect with?

A. It takes evil to catch evil.
B. Pride leads to eventual ruin.
C. Bad things happen in groups.
D. Evil cannot stay hidden for long.

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the climax reveals the theme that evil cannot stay hidden for long, as the narrator's guilt leads him to confess his crime. Therefore, the correct option is d.

The climax of "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe most connects with the theme that evil cannot stay hidden for long. In the climactic moment, the narrator reveals his guilt by confessing to the murder he committed, unable to bear the imagined sound of the old man's heart still beating beneath the floorboards where he hid the body.

This moment encapsulates the idea that no matter how carefully one tries to conceal their misdeeds, the truth will eventually come to light, often through the wrongdoer's own psychological unraveling.