Hunting animals or people for sport is cruel, unethical, and unfathomable. Those who think hunting humans is okay could possibly be mentally unstable because it is such an inhumane way of thinking. In a way it can be considered bullying which is never okay regardless of who the victim is. General Zaroff eliminated the sailors he trapped on his island in way that only brought pleasure to himself and fright to others. Killing should not be a way to bring satisfaction but could possibly be useful for others things such as population control and getting rid of people who only cause harm to others.
Hunting humans is cruel and inhumane. General Zaroff claims them to be “the most dangerous game”(14), because they have the ability to reason while other game cannot. As Rainsford is explaining his reason on why the idea of the animal he is hunting is preposterous the General claims he is a civilized man. Even though
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“The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong” the general uses as an excuse to make his reason more convincible. Most people except perhaps psychopaths will think hunting humans is completely out of the ordinary and having it be taken into consideration can make others think you are a ruthless human being. Although we cannot always blame the person behind the gun because we do not know the whole story or who could have led him on to doing this. General Zaroff had the idea of killing in his system since he was five years old. When he was only five years old his father gave him a pistol to shoot the sparrows but Zaroff went for the prized turkeys. Instead of being angry or upset he started to clap which caused General Zaroff to grow up believing in Darwinism, “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and if needs be, taken by the strong”(14). With that in Zaroff’s mind since he was little, he was basically raised to
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff. Rainsford is a hunter. He was on a yacht that crashed and he was the only survivor. The island that he swam to was named “Ship Trap Island.” This where General Zaroff lived. He is also a hunter. He has hunted anything you can think of. Even… people. He has the survivors from the ship wrecks “play” his “game.” The survivors go out into the jungle and General Zaroff goes out and finds them. They have three days to survive. If they don’t get caught in those three days, they win. If they lose… they are killed. This happened to Rainsford. Rainsford, thankfully, won the “game.” He shot General Zaroff after his win.
In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff is shown as crazy, Fearless, and Playful. General Zaroff is shown to be crazy in the story when he traps people on his island and then hunt them. “No animal had a chance with me anymore”(. This quote shows that Rainsford is crazy because during this part, he is hunting real living humans. During the story, General Zaroff is also Fearless. He shows that he is when he is hunting Rainsford and he knows he is in the tree but doesn't kill him because he wants a better fight. “His eyes stopped before they got to the limb where Rainsford laid and he smiled”. General Zaroff shows that he is fearless during this scene because he could get killed if he lets him live for a better fight but
In the short story “the most dangerous game”, Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff.
In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Gen. Zaroff is shown as insane, intelligent and competitive. Zaroff is shown to be insane in the story when he explains who he hunts. “So I said: ‘What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?’ and the answer was of course ‘It must have courage, cunning, and be able to reason… My dear fellow, there is one that can… Why should I not be serious, I am speaking of hunting” (Connell 69-70). This quote shows that Gen. Zaroff demented is because during this part, he is hunting humans for fun. During the
In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff. Rainsford is a hunter. He was on a yacht until he fell off the boat. He swam all the way to shore because Rainsford heard three gun shots. He walked upon a gigantic mansion. This house was for a man named General Zaroff. He was an hunter just like Rainsford in a hunt , but hunted humans instead of animals. General Zaroff wanted to kill Rainsford in a hunt with the General. Also, the General threaten Rainsford if he doesn’t hunt with him; he will be sent with Ivan.
Robert Rainsford from “The Most Dangerous Game” is a very open character. He always shows what he’s thinking verbally or just with facial expressions. When he landed on Ship-Trap island and was lost in the woods, he found a pathway. “They pointed along the cliff in the direction he had been going.” Rainsford’s attitude toward the pathway is what brought him and General Zaroff together. Rainsford had the opportunity to just not follow the hunting boot tracks and walk down a different trail but then the story would never have ended the same. “‘Thank you, I’m a hunter, not a murderer.’ ‘Dear me,’ said the general, quite unruffled, ‘again that unpleasant word. But I think I can show you that your scruples are quite ill founded.’”This quote signifies the start of conflict for the two characters.
Rainsford is known for his extravagant hunting skills, even General Zaroff speaks of Rainsford as is if he has inspired him to become a hunter. Rainsford talks about hunting with passion, while he is speaking to Whitney he tells her it’s “the best sport in the world” (19). Rainsford has no guilt when he kills animals, he even tells Whitney that it’s nonsense when she mention the jaguars have feeling. But Rainsford shows immediate disgust when Zaroff brings up his hunting of humans, “hunting, great heavens, what you speak of is murder” (26). This only the first of many times that he reacts with great displeasure.
When General Zaroff is first introduced in the story, it appears that he is a civilized person. It is not until you read farther into the story that you begin to see why he is quite the opposite. While having dinner with Rainsford, General Zaroff explains to him that, while he used to hunt big game animals, it had begun to bore him. None of the game provided a challenge to Zaroff anymore. He came up with another way to get the thrill of hunting, while finding something that would keep it interesting and challenging. Zaroff decided to hunt humans.
General Zaroff used hunting tactics when they were eating “the last supper” at Zaroff’s house. Every time Rainsford looked up, he said, “he found him studying him, appraising him narrowly” (Connell 66). By this, the reader can tell that Zaroff is trying to notice Rainsford’s tendencies. Knowing these can make hunting him easier. Also at dinner, Zaroff explains to Rainsford that “God made him a hunter” and how his father believed that “his hand was made for the trigger” since he was ten (Connell 85). Zaroff sharing this with Rainsford is proof that this man is a talented hunter and has been for a long time. Rainsford is quite the hunter himself. So much so, that Zaroff knew who he was when he arrived. The General stated, “It is a very great pleasure and honor to welcome Mr. Sanger Rainsford, the celebrated hunter, to my home” (Connell 52). Also during the hunt when Rainsford set up the Burmese tiger pit and claiming one of Zaroff’s dogs, Zaroff tells him, “You’ve done well, Rainsford” (Connell 194). If his enemy believes that he is a great hunter, then he must be. Especially because Zaroff thinks so highly of himself. Going back to when Rainsford was
In The Most Dangerous Game the characters in the story were Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff. Now in the story Sanger Rainsford is the victim, and General Zaroff is the predator. Sanger Rainsford was a hunter, he was fearless, brave, strong, and smart. He claim’s that he is superior to the animals that he kills. But when he is being hunted himself, his point of v...
Both the men are war veterans and avid hunters, but they both have completely different ideas on how the world works. General Zaroff is unable to adapt to the New World and let go of the ideas that he grew up with as a nobleman of the Romanov Russian Empire. However, Sanger Rainsford is able to adapt to the changes that have happened to the New World. It is because of this that he is able to outsmart General Zaroff at his own game and kill the Cossack, thus, Rainsford was a higher class of human than Zaroff, due to the rules of natural selection
... he had sat in trees that probably had splinters in them. He also did not have sleep. This hunt made him really tired. Also Rainsford is a softhearted fellow and probably doesn’t want to hurt other people or animals. He needs training to because this was just one match. Maybe General Zaroff was not at his best this time. Maybe he was just going easy on Rainsford.
“I hunt the scum of the earth- sailors from tramp ships- lascars, blacks, chinese, whites, mongrels- a thorough bred horse or hound is worth more than a score of them”(25). Zaroff concludes Cossacks are on top of the hierarchy of civilization. Also, a thoroughbred horse or dog would be worth more than 20 human lives because of what he was raised to believe. By calling everyone except Cossacks the scum of the Earth he is expressing his emotions about civilization. In addition, he says people can reason after a fashion, so they are dangerous. If they are weak it’s an essential for them to be destroyed because “Life is for the strong and if need be, taken by the strong”(25). The general believes since people can reason they are too dangerous to live and their lives must be taken. Life is only for the strong and the Cossacks to live. Anyone that is tenuous is obligated to be eliminated by the strong for their amusement and pleasure. Furthermore, “I don’t wish you to think me a braggart, Mr. Rainsford. Many of the afford only the most elementary sort of problem. Occasionally I strike a tartar. One almost did win. I eventually had to use the dogs”(26). When the general is determined to win he will stop at nothing to get it done. For example, when he is almost defeated before RAinsford shows up he uses the dog to kill the guy so he win. The General doesn’t like to lose and will
General Zaroff first appears to be a handsome man past his middle age, but looks can be deceiving. When he smiles, it shows his pointed teeth. This is shown in the story when the author describes, “... said the general, and his smile showed red lips and pointed teeth…(Connel 23). Having pointed teeth isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s connotating that he’s evil because pop culture use attributes such as having pointed teeth or red eyes to show that someone is evil, and this is no exception. Not to mention that Rainsford, the protagonist of the story, decides to kill General Zaroff because he realizes that he’s a threat to everything around him. It’s inferred that Rainsford later kills Zaroff when Zaroff says, “One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford…’ He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided” (Conell 36). Although the fight is never written about, we can assume that there was a fight based off of the dialog and how time passes after the
G. Zaroff is untrustworthy because in the end after Rainfords has beaten him he still has to fight him. He shows this when Rainsford meets him in the bedroom the General says “I see, Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in a very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford…..” This means that he didn’t keep his promise of letting him go after three days and still made him fight.