In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford is a skilled, widely known hunter from New York City. When he falls off his yacht, he swims to Ship-Trap Island where he meets the owner of the island, General Zaroff, who is also a hunter. Rainsford soon discovers that Zaroff plans a dangerous game in which he traps ships, so he can hunt and kill those on board. The protagonist Sanger Rainsford, and the antagonist, General Zaroff share common beliefs about hunting, but when they are pitted against each other in Zaroff’s inhumane game their truly different personalities, attitudes, and morals conflict, resulting in Rainsford killing Zaroff for the greater good. In different ways, Rainsford and Zaroff each divide the world into two classes. On the …show more content…
He believes, “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure,” (9). Zaroff grew bored of hunting animals, so he now hunts humans. He explains, “It had become too easy. I always got my quarry. There is no greater bore than perfection. No animal had a chance with me anymore,” (7). Zaroff decides humans are the ideal game to hunt because they are able to reason and are more of a challenge. At first Rainsford does not think Zaroff is serious. When Rainsford realizes Zaroff is serious, he disagrees with Zaroff’s style of hunting and calls him a murderer. “Hunting? Great Guns, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder,” (8). It is obvious Zaroff has no morals regarding murder. He explains why he hunts people, “it gives me pleasure,” and he feels they are “more dangerous,” (9) than any game he’s hunted before. Rainsford is disgusted when he finds out Zaroff wants him to hunt humans with him, instead of fascinated as Zaroff hoped. In Zaroff’s eyes, Rainsford is weak, so instead of hunting with Zaroff, Rainsford is hunted by
“You’re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?”. The story “The Most dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell introduces an adventurous type of thriller with two main characters named Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff. Both of which are hunters who in the story play a “game” invented by General Zaroff out of pure fear of becoming bored of the hunt. General Zaroff is a big fan of the hunt and everything he says about the hunt is to be taken serious. Rainsford and General Zaroff are described to be excellent hunters through the traps Rainsford makes, all the big game Zaroff has hunted, but Zaroff is better at hunting through the fact that the hunt has began to bore and he needs more of a challenge hunting humans.
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.
Hunting big game animals for sport was a popular pastime with the wealthy classes following World War I. The morality of killing for sport was not questioned in reality, but in this short story the author does question it by taking it a step further and having the protagonist, Sangor Rainsford, hunted by the antagonist, General Zaroff.In a short story full of irony, one of the greatest ironies of Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” is that General Zaroff repeatedly tells Rainsford that he maintains a sense of civilization on his island.
Rainsford was forced to choose between life and death by Zaroff. Zaroff tells Rainsford that he hunts people as a type of wild game and takes them hunting first then gives them a few survival things and have to survive for three days in order to win.
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
When Rainsford falls off of the boat, he has to try his best to stay afloat until he can find something to latch on to. He swims vigorously until he reaches Ship-Trap Island. "Jagged crags appeared to jut up into the opaqueness... dense jungle came down to the very edge of the cliffs." It is midday and he is just searching for a place to rest when he runs into Ivan, the astonishingly large guard of the island. Zaroff, the owner of the island, joins in on their conversation about hunting. The conversation is interesting to say the least. Zaroff says, "You'll find this game worth playing…your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! And the stake is not without value, eh?" Zaroff is trying to point out that he finds interest in hunting humans, and he wants to know if Rainsford will rise to the challenge. Rainsford is left with a choice to make; will he fight Zaroff, or will he decline and get killed by Ivan. The choice in this situation is pretty self- evident.
A second reason is that he gives all of his prey a three hour head start. On page fifty he states, “I give him three hours’ start. I am to follow, only armed with a pistol.” (Connell.) He knows that he will win, even if he gives his opponent a whole three hours more. One last reason for Zaroff being confident, is the fact that he finds Rainsford on the first day, but leaves him alone. The quote on page fifty-three says, “But the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they reached the limb where Rainsford lay; a smile spread over his brown face.” (Connell.) This hints that General Zaroff knew that Rainsford was there. A few lines later, on the same page, it says, “Then he turned his back on the tree and walked carelessly away.” (Connell.) Secondly, Zaroff can be described as crafty as well. Primarily, he had picked this island and place for his house knowing that
Rainsford is an intelligent man. Early in the story, “Rainsford remembered the shots. They had come from the right, and he doggedly swam in that direction” (34). Rainsford had just fallen in the water, swam fifty feet further out, but he kept his senses in the right direction. In total darkness, Rainsford used his intelligence and intellect to reach the land. Also, I don’t think that Rainsford knew he was being sized up when Zaroff was staring at him, but when “Rainsford’s bewilderment showed in his face” (100), he quickly understood what Zaroff was leading too. Rainsford wasn’t a murderer. Sure he liked to hunt game, but he wasn’t bored as Zaroff was. Rainsford never bought into all the old tales. ‘“One superstitious sailor can taint the whole ship’s company with fear”’ (20). He never got worked up or stressed out.
In the story The Most Dangerous Game a character named General Zaroff has a passion for hunting. He has been hunting since he was born. He has hunted every animal known to man, but, then he gets tried of hunting the same animal over and over. So he discovers a new animal human flesh. General Zaroff is person of bad character because he is cruel, cowardly, and untrustworthy.
General Zaroff from “The Most Dangerous Game” made the mistake of being overconfident which resulted in his death. The short story by Richard Connell describes the hunter Rainsford’s experience on Ship-Trap Island. He meets a strange man called General Zaroff, who introduces him to his game of hunting humans. He allows a human three hours to run and hide, then they must survive for three days without being found by the General. Rainsford has no choice but to agree to the game. With the help of different traps, Rainsford bruises the General’s arm, kills one of his hunting dogs and the General’s butler. Despite these small successes the general had many opportunities to shoot Rainsford and Rainsford soon realized “The general was playing with him. The general was saving him for another day’s sport” (31). At the end of the third day, Rainsford jumps into the sea to evade General Zaroff then swims back to the island only to reappear in the general’s bedroom. They face off and Rainsford kills General Zaroff. If General Zaroff had killed Rainsford the first opportunity he got, he would not have been killed. The general was very confident about him winning that he did not think Rainsford to be a threat. He did not know the skills Rainsford possessed and underestimated him. From “The Most Dangerous Game” readers can learn not to underestimate the threat of the