Most Dangerous Game

In the story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and the poem “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning, the authors use characterization and imagery to convey that the desire for power can drive man to psychotic actions.

“I can’t believe you are serious, General Zaroff. This is a grisly joke.” The Most Dangerous Game is a short story by Richard Connel. In the story, a famous hunter named Rainsford tragically falls off his yacht and has to swim to an infamous island known as Ship-Trap Island. During the rest of the story, Rainsford meets a crazy hunter, finds out the secrets of the island, and has to use his hunting skills to stay alive. I believe that Zaroff’s and Rainsford’s conflicting views on the ethics of hunting will cause tension between them and make the story more exciting and full of action.

In the story, Rainsford and Whitney are on a boat heading towards Rio to hunt. Whitney had brought up an island that is enigmatic.

It had been a week since Rainsford managed to kill the nefarious General Zaroff. The challenging part was almost over or so it seemed. There was not a clear way for Rainsford to escape. As days passed, Rainsford tried to escape. He tried making a boat from driftwood that he found, he tried swimming, he even tried sending a signal by using a flashlight. Rainsford had become so desperate that he even tried some ridiculous plans like trying to pole vault across the ocean. As a result, Rainsford ended up having huge gashes in his left leg ,which got infected, and he had to amputate it. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, Rainsford had lost hope and became bitter.

Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" is a very exciting story of a manhunt. This story made me think about the morality of hunting: Humans are the cleverest creatures on earth, but does it give them a license to kill the other animals and even human beings weaker than themselves? I give below a short summary of the story to set the scene and then I will explore the ethics involved in hunting as a sport. "The Most Dangerous Game" presents the story of a hunter, General Zaroff, who finds hunting human beings as the most dangerous and fascinating sport.

"The general was playing with him! The general was saving him for another day's sport! The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror." Rainsford comes to seek vengeance from the general making a toy of him by attempting to cause insanity due to the loss of nerve. "I will not lose my nerve. I will not." is the type of mental toughness Rainsford shows during Zaroff's tortures. "The general sucked in his breath and smiled. "I congratulate you," he said. "You have won the game."" The generals admit of defeat is not enough for Rainsford, thus Rainsford takes the situation to a brutal place and kills the General; "The general made one of his deepest bows. "I see," he said, "Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds.

In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” the author, Richard Connell, does an outstanding job of portraying the bizarre adventure of an insane, however experienced hunter, General Zaroff. The protagonist, Rainsford, another experienced hunter from New York City, appears on General Zaroff’s island, explores, and eventually encounters with Zaroff. They introduce themselves, settle down, and begin to talk. During the talk with the general, Rainsford soon learns that the General was not only a hunter; but a murderer as well. Zaroff has lured and ceased many sailors to his island to play a game. Although, they did not hunt with the General, the General hunted them! Zaroff claimed that hunting “had become too easy”, therefore, hunting began

The general is talking about hunting Rainsford not hunting with Rainsford, “We will hunt, you and I,” - General Zaroff. The general acts like he wants to go hunting WITH Rainsford but in reality he really is just planning on hunting Rainsford. This makes the story more interesting because, it’s kind of like a plot twist which makes the reader want to read more of the story. At the beginning of the story, Rainsford was talking to Whitney and he said, “who cares how a jaguar feels?” Rainsford ended up in the jaguars position because he was being hunted. “He executed a series of intricate loops; he doubled on his trail again and again recalling all the lore of the fox hunt, and dodges of the fox.” He feels like an animal in this

After the General allows small glimpses into his psyche, the fact that he is a disturbed person is temporarily forgotten about as the battle between him and Rainsford begins. In “Hunters in the Snow”, the situation with the shooting occurs early on, but the main focus of the story then transfers to the characters' and their issues for the remainder of the story. Rainsford is the typical hero: He is clever and moral, as opposed to Zaroff who is immoral. Though he claims to be "a beast at bay," Rainsford has now fully reverted to hunter mode, swimming across a small bay to Zaroff's chateau to arrive there before the general can make it back through the jungle.… out the shadowy outlines of a palatial chateau; it was set on a high bluff, and on three sides of it cliffs dived down to where the sea licked greedy lips in the shadows”. Rainsford claims that no animal can reason and when he realizes what Zaroff is doing, he calls it cold-blooded murder. Zaroff retreats to the chateau, assuming he has won the game. The General explains, "hunting was beginning to bore him," and reveals that he had to invent a new animal to hunt, one that must have "courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason. Rainsford survives, winning the game. A story, which relies on action, coincidence and surprise, is precisely the motivation that Connell needs to create a memorable commercial fiction. Rainsford is given the impression that General Zaroff is a wealthy and prominent hunter. "

Imagine turning up on an island with a psychotic man, a man who hunts humans. This is what General Zaroff does, on Ship-Trap-Island. General Zaroff is a rich hunter who hunts most animals, even the most dangerous. This is the story written by Richard Connell, called The Most Dangerous Game, It is about a psychotic man with a hunting obsession. Once Zaroff gets bored with the hunting animals he turns to something new, humans. The author thinks that hunting is normal, that people have a killer instinct. That it is our human nature to hunt, and kill. The author also thinks that it is human nature to look for new challenges and to live strong. Much like Zaroff, the author believes life, is for the willing.

"Hurled me against a tree," said the general. "Fractured my skull. But I got the brute” (R’Connell). This just demonstrates how ruthless Zaroff is because he fractured his skull but he just doesn't care. "Oh," said the general, "it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world. No other hunting compares with it for an instant. Every day I hunt, and I never grow bored now, for I have a quarry with which I can match my wits” (R’Connell). Zaroff is never too tired to hunt or too sick, no matter how he feels he will always hunt. All of Zaroff’s behaviors are what make him relentless.

“It is a very great pleasure and honor to welcome Mr. Sanger Rainsford, the celebrated hunter, to my home,” I smoothly said, “I’ve read your book... I am General Zaroff.” Firmly, I signed to have Ivan put away his pistol to not frighten our guest. After a time of discussing my Cossack background, we escorted him to the dining

There are survivors all around us, and they all could have faced grave challenges to be standing where they are today. Rainsford, in the "Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, faced intense challenges in a "fight to the death" conflict against one of his most successful supporters, General Zaroff. Lee, from "My escape from North Korea" by Hyeonseo Lee, faced tough challenges while trying to escape the depths of a country that treated her horrendously. Aron Ralston, from "Trapped", a story explaining that Aron himself was hiking alone when the unthinkable happened: Two large, heavy boulders fell on his arm and he had to endure over a hundred painful hours of being trapped in between the two rocks until he did a self-amputation on the arm

The author uses the setting to create suspense in the short story “The Most Dangerous Game.” As the story begins with looking out onto the horizon of the vast waters, he remarks that he cannot see Ship-Trap Island since “trying to peer through the dank tropical night … was palatable

His spear was balanced perfectly, long with a deadly obsidian tip. And it had been no easy task to make it. Finally, sweat soaked and driven, Rainsford sat upon a flaking rock and waited. When The General came before him, Rainsford was staring absently into the sky.“Ah, it seems we meet again, Rainsford. You haven’t followed the rules of the game. Naughty, Naughty.” Zaroff tsked. The General spit next to Rainsford’s feet. This is