Pushed to do many things he wouldn’t normally do, Rainsford can’t be evaluated on the same scale that ordinary folk are. That being said, he compromised a lot of morals that most would never think of. Because of his evolution from the situation, it’s imperative to understand that to evaluate Rainsford and his morality, one has to think outside the box. At different parts in the story, he must be analyzed differently.
Rainsford is a well-known hunter, with a pile of books to prove it. General Zaroff, Cossack, shares the pastime of hunting with him, the only difference being what they pursue. General Zaroff looks up to him and would be honored to have him join the hunt. Upon finding out what it is that’s hunted on Ship-Trap Island, Rainsford is absolutely abhorred and wants nothing to do with a manhunt. After refusing to assist in the murder of another, Rainsford is told that he shall have the choice all of the island’s visitors have had: Ivan or Zaroff. Thinking about the torment that will take place with Ivan and the death with General Zaroff, he scruples for a moment but ultimately decides his fate shall be left to the forest that he will be hunted in. At this point in the story, it’s clear that his morals align with modern day thoughts. Rainsford is okay with hunting animals for sport, but he draws the
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line at humans. As the hunt progresses and he learns that General Zaroff can find him no matter where he is, Rainsford is forced to make a choice: sit and wait on his death, or prolong the inevitable by running. With the instinct for survival, he flees. Rainsford is changing. In order to live, he begins losing sight of his morals. He conjures up inhumane traps in the hopes of catching General Zaroff off guard, which only results in the deaths of a dog and the servant, Ivan. It’s at this point that you begin to question if Rainsford is any better than Zaroff. In a story based on morality, it’s difficult to not evaluate his decisions negatively. After all, if all these unnecessary deaths are resulting from his doing, what’s stopping him from becoming exactly like General Zaroff? The story ends with, “He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided.” This proves that Rainsford’s world has completely changed. He has won “the game.” Nonetheless, it was a game he’d originally intended on not playing, but was forced to. Somewhere along the line, he began to enjoy it. It became more than life or death - it became okay. By killing General Zaroff instead of finding a way off the island, Richard Connell changes the way Rainsford must be analyzed. Throughout the story, Rainsford becomes a different person.
At the beginning of “The Most Dangerous Game” he wouldn’t have been able to wrap his mind around the thought of killing another human. In the end, he kills a man in cold blood. While his actions can be justified, it’s morals that make them questionable. It’s important to take the entire story into perspective, not just the things he did wrong or the things he did right. Rainsford now knows what it feels like to be hunted, but the ending of the story indicates he won’t stop hunting. With all this information, it’s suggested that Rainsford is parallel to the person he was disgusted with: General
Zaroff.
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, Sanger Rainsford is shown as intelligent, determined, and competitive. Rainsford is shown to be intelligent in the story when he beats General Zaroff back to his house with only two options for beating him to his house. Nevertheless, he thought of a faster route to General Zaroff’s house so he could surprise him and catch him off guard, which is alarmingly smart. “ ‘Rainsford!’ screamed the general. ‘How in God’s name did you get here?’ ‘Swam,’ said Rainsford. ‘I found it quicker than walking through the jungle’ (Connell). This quote definitely shows that Rainsford is intelligent. Consequently, his knowledge of accurate timing and overall understanding of his surroundings help him outsmart
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.
A man, once curious, thought highly of and condoning cold blooded murder. Has no found a new love of killing people. A murderer, loving to see people in pain from the suffering of dying or getting injured, creating a hole with sharps stakes for people to fall into, and feeding a powerful person to hounds. He is no more obsessed with hunting animals, but hunting humans. This man is now the general of Ship Trap Island. Rainsford becomes the next general of Ship Trap Island. He becomes the next general of the island because he has a similar outlook on life as General Zaroff , and he has changed from not wanting to hunt humans to wanting to hunt 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 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.
In both film and story, Rainsford expresses his lack of sympathy for his prey. Similar to the story, Rainsford meets Ivan first and can’t get through to him and then, he’s greeted by Zaroff. In the film, Zaroff knows that Rainsford is a famous hunter and has read his books, just like in the story. Moreover, Zaroff reveals that a cape buffalo gave him the scar on his head. In the same manner, Zaroff tells Rainsford how he stocks his island with human prey. Just as the film showed Zaroff has a room filled with human heads, and that’s also mentioned in the story. Furthermore, Rainsford uses the same traps (Malay Mancatcher, Burmese Tiger Pit, and a native Uganda Trick) in the film as he did in the story. In addition, Rainsford kills Ivan with the same native Uganda trick. Both film and movie, unveils that Rainsford kills
There was a game. The Westing Game. To find an heir. To win it all. Sixteen players. Eight teams. One winner. Who became the heir of Sam Westing. Sam Westing died, or supposedly did, and his sixteen heirs were trying to figure out who killed him, or if he was killed at all, which we found out, later in the novel was true. All of the teams had different clues, and they tried to figure out what those clues meant. In the mystery novel, The Westing Game, written by Ellen Raskin, the elements that were mysterious were: the main conflict, setting, characterization, and the technique the author gave clues to the reader.
In the short story “the most dangerous game”, Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff.
After falling off his ship and forced to swim to a mysterious island, Rainsford is faced with a challenge. General Zaroff traps him in a “game” that requires Rainsford to use his skills to survive. He is hunted for three days; where he was chased, tracked down, and shot at. General Zaroff led the hunt to try to kill Rainsford. General was equipped with more firepower and help from his henchman and dogs. But even with his much greater opponent, he was able to survive. Rainsford used his many skills to defeat and kill his enemy. He used quick wit to make traps that would slow Zaroff and kill his dogs and henchman. Then he used his intelligence to escape Zaroff by swimming away, but sneaking back into his own mansion.
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.
In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford is shown as serious, cunning, and determined. Rainsford is shown to be serious in the story when he speaks
In the beginning of the story, Rainsford has a conversation with his friend, Whitney, about hunting animals. Rainford does not care about the animals that he hunts. He believes hunting is only a sport to kill innocent creatures. “‘Who cares how a jaguar feels?’” (1) Showing the reader exactly what he thinks of hunting. Rainsford does not understand that the animals he hunts are like the people that Zaroff hunts. They are innocent, and he is murdering them when he hunts them. Rainsford thinks that Zaroff is insane for murdering people, but Rainsford is also a murderer. When Zaroff hunts Rainsford, the protagonist realizes the terror and pain the jaguars must have felt when he hunted them. Now the roles are reversed, and Rainsford is the one being hunted. “The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. The general was saving him for another day’s sport! Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror.” (17) Rainsford has changed his feelings about hunting animals now, and he has become a better person. He now takes into account how his prey feels. His interactions with people will also be different, because instead of being extremely overconfident, he realizes that he is not perfectly adept at hunting, and everyone has feelings that matter. In conclusion, Rainsford is now more humble and less overconfident than he was when he began his
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
Facing hardships, problems, or obstacles shouldn’t discourage one from completing their task or job. Many of authors usually put their characters through tough complications to show the reader that no matter what happens; anyone could pull through. In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connel, the main character Mr. Rainsford gets stranded on an eerie island with a bad reputation. He meets General Zaroff and gets thrown into a huge hunting game, where his life is on the line. In the end, he wins the game and will continue to hunt animals, but not people, as the general once did. He will continue to hunt because one, hunting means everything to him. Two, he will not continue the general’s crazy ways, and resort back to the legal and non-dangerous to other humans sport. Third, he feels powerful when he becomes the hunter and not the hunted. Giving up hunting would be like giving up his life, so just because of a minor block he had to overcome, he will not give up hunting.