📚 Part 1: Understanding the Text

1. Where is the narrator when he first sees the oval portrait?

2. How does the narrator feel about the portrait? Circle the best answer.

Comfortable and peaceful

Disturbed and unsettled

Bored and uninterested

Happy and excited

3. Find and write down one quote from the text that shows the narrator's reaction to the portrait.

4. Why do you think Poe focuses so closely on describing this particular portrait?

🏰 Part 2: Gothic Elements

5. Tick all the Gothic elements that appear in this extract:

Mystery and suspense

Dark or eerie atmosphere

Supernatural or unexplained events

Bright, cheerful settings

Decay or death imagery

6. Find two examples of Gothic language or imagery from the text. Explain how each one affects the reader.

Example 1: ________________________

Effect on reader: ________________________

Example 2: ________________________

Effect on reader: ________________________

7. What mood does Poe create in this extract? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

8. How does this extract make you feel? Which specific words or images create this effect?

9. Challenge: Write the opening sentence of your own Gothic story inspired by this extract. Use atmospheric language to create mood.