Scribd
Upload
185 views2 pages

Mystery Reading

Three strange old people were looking after the castle where a young man was staying. As he walked down the long, echoing corridor to the Red Room where someone had died, he felt uneasy due to the odd pensioners and ghostly furnishings. Moonlight illuminated the corridor and cast eerie shadows from statues that startled him. Approaching the Red Room, he felt apprehensive remembering the story of the last person found there and hastily opened the door, feeling nervous at the end.

Uploaded by

madam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
185 views2 pages

Mystery Reading

Three strange old people were looking after the castle where a young man was staying. As he walked down the long, echoing corridor to the Red Room where someone had died, he felt uneasy due to the odd pensioners and ghostly furnishings. Moonlight illuminated the corridor and cast eerie shadows from statues that startled him. Approaching the Red Room, he felt apprehensive remembering the story of the last person found there and hastily opened the door, feeling nervous at the end.

Uploaded by

madam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Mystery and Suspense

The Red Room


Read the following adapted extract of a short story called ‘The Red Room’ by H.G. Wells. A
young man is visiting an old castle. He is met by three, strange looking old people who agree
to show him to his room – a room where someone had once died. In this extract he is walking
through the corridor, on his way to the room.

I left the door wide open until the candle was well alight, and then I shut them in and walked
down the chilly, echoing passage.

I must confess that the oddness of these three old pensioners in whose charge her ladyship had
left the castle, and the old-fashioned furniture of the housekeeper's room in which they
gathered, affected me in spite of my efforts to keep myself at a matter-of-fact mood. The
ornaments and conveniences of the room about them were ghostly--the thoughts of vanished
men, which still haunted rather than participated in the world of to-day. But with an effort I sent
such thoughts away. The long, draughty passage was chilly and dusty, and my candle flared and
made the shadows cower and quiver. The echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase, and a
shadow came sweeping up after me, and one fled before me into the darkness overhead. I came
to the landing and stopped there for a moment, listening to a rustling that I thought I heard;
then, satisfied of the absolute silence, I pushed open the door and stood in the corridor.

The effect was not what I expected, for the moonlight, coming in by the great window on the
grand staircase, picked out everything in vivid black shadow or silvery illumination. Everything
was in its place: the house might have been deserted yesterday instead of eighteen months ago.
There were candles in the sockets of the sconces, and whatever dust had gathered on the
carpets or upon the polished flooring was distributed so evenly as to be invisible in the
moonlight. I was about to advance, and stopped abruptly. A bronze statue stood upon the
landing, hidden from me by the corner of the wall, but its shadow fell with marvellous
distinctness upon the white panelling, and gave me the impression of someone crouching to
waylay me. I stood rigid for half a minute perhaps. Then, with my hand in the pocket that held
my revolver, I advanced, only to discover another statue glistening in the moonlight. That
incident for a time restored my nerve, and a porcelain ornament of a man on the table, whose
head rocked silently as I passed him, scarcely startled me.

The door to the red room and the steps up to it were in a shadowy corner. I moved my candle
from side to side, in order to see clearly the nature of the recess in which I stood before opening
the door. Here it was, thought I, that the last person who visited this room was found, and the
memory of the story gave me a sudden twinge of apprehension. I glanced over my shoulder at
the statue in the moonlight, and opened the door of the red room rather hastily.
Now, answer the questions below in full sentences. Remember that the number of marks
is a guide for how much to write.

1. How many people were looking after the castle? [1]

2. What impression does the narrator have of the old people? [1]
Impression – an opinion formed about a person.

3. Find 3 details which describe the corridor. [3]

4. When had the house been deserted? [1]

5. What is it that scares the narrator in the corridor? [2]

6. Find 2 pieces of evidence which show that the narrator is scared.


Explain how the evidence tells us that he is scared. [4]

7. Why is the narrator nervous about entering the room? [1]

8. How is the narrator feeling at the end of the passage? [2]


How do you know this?

Now, look again at the whole passage and then answer the question below.

How does the writer build suspense and create an atmosphere of tension? [5]

In your answer you should comment on:

• The setting.
• How the narrator feels at the start of the passage.
• What makes him feel nervous as he walks through the corridor.
• Any words or phrases which make us feel tense.

Remember to focus on the writer’s use of language here.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy