Stranded, lost, and alone is how Sanger Rainsford felt as he scaled the rocky cliffs of the island. The Most Dangerous Game is a short story written by Richard Connell and published on January 19, 1924. Sanger Rainsford a legendary hunter falls overboard off a yacht on his way to the Amazon. He finds himself on `Ship-Trap Island` where he meets General Zaroff the owner of a mansion on the island and Ivan his servant. General Zaroff invites Sanger Rainsford to hunt with him. Rainsford is disgusted and sickened at the fact that General Zaroff’s idea of hunting means hunting humans. In return for his passage off the island Zaroff forces Rainsford to participate in his hunting game where he is the hunter and Rainsford is the prey. The main characters, …show more content…
For example, he is shown to be intelligent and experienced when he says, “"I have played the fox, now I must play the cat of the fable"” (pg18). Rainsford used deception skills by zig-zagging back and forth and creating multiple tracks that confused Zaroff’s dogs. He used his experiences from previous fox hunts to achieve his goal of outsmarting General Zaroff. An illustration, of his resourcefulness and skill is shown when “...the dead tree, delicately adjusted to rest on the cut living one, crashed down and struck the general a glancing blow on the shoulder as it fell; but for his alertness, he must have been smashed beneath it” (pg19). Rainsford was quick to spot the dead branch and was resourceful to use it as a trap to slow down and try to stop Zaroff. He is very skilled and we know this because the General tells him that not very many people know how to build the type of trap he built. Additionally the quote, “"Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my best dogs. Again you score…”” (pg20). Rainsford used a lesson he learned from his mistake of falling in the quicksand as another way to trap or injure his opponent. By killing Zaroff’s dog Rainsford eliminated a resource of his opponent. Rainsford knew that Zaroff was an experienced hunter and in order to succeed he would need to utilize all of the skills he has learned over the years hunting. These skills ultimately helped him to succeed in outsmarting his …show more content…
For example, his bizarreness and ruthlessness are shown when he says “"I had to invent a new animal to hunt,"” (pg12). Zaroff had become bored with hunting animals because he always caught his prey. He introduced his cruel new hunting game as if it were not unusual at all. An illustration, of his unsympathetic and uncivilized characteristics, are when he is telling Rainsford “"I wanted the ideal animal to hunt," explained the general. "So I said, `What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?' And the answer was, of course, `It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason"” (pg12). Zaroff is talking about hunting a human being and he is showing no feelings or remorse about it. He showed a total lack of compassion when describing his new animal to hunt which is a human. Lastly, when he talks about his game “"You'll find this game worth playing," the general said enthusiastically"” (pg16), shows his coldheartedness and cruelness to others. Zaroff is comparing a game of chess to the killing of another human. He is very excited and enthusiastic about the thoughts of hunting a human being. Throughout the story, Zaroff’s cruel and inhuman characteristics are shown by the way he talked to Rainsford about his hunting of humans. He shows no compassion and is actually excited about the possibility of hunting
The harsh truth of island life reveals that Zaroff’s idea of civilization includes personal pleasure derived from murder .Zaroff explains his “game.” Zaroff has become bored with hunting because the animals do not provide a challenge for him, so hunts the only animal that can think and reason—man (Connell 74).He believes that he deserves the challenge, so it is morally right to hunt men. This is not civilized behavior. It is murder. He tries explains why it is right. “‘If I wish to hunt, why should I not? I hunt the scum of the earth—[…]’”(Connell 75).Zaroff believes that his social status and wealth give him the right to kill those in lower classes. This
#53) The reason this is so important is because General Zaroff is a very experienced hunter,who has never lost at his game,but even he could not trace Rainsford. This tells us that Rainsford is skilled at hiding and reacting quickly. An example of Rainsford being smart was when he thought of “A native trick he learned in Uganda. He slid
However, Rainsford objects his reasons to hunt humans, “Hunting? Great guns, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder,” (8). That is when Zaroff starts thinking Rainsford is starting to become weak, and hunting is the only thing on his mind so he rejects, “I hunt the scum of the earth; sailors from tramp ships, lassars, blacks, chinese, whites, mongrels, a thoroughbred horse or hounds worth more than a score of them,” (9). Zaroff disrespects and doesn’t care about other races, but at least Rainsford objects to the fact he traps them to hunt them for his own enjoyment. Rainsford refuses to join Zaroff in his hunt, in which he becomes disappointed and offers Rainsford a choice, “As you wish, my friend. The choice rests entirely with you. But may I not venture to suggest that you will find my idea of sport more diverting than Ivan’s,” (11). Zaroff left him with a choice, to either play a dangerous game with Zaroff or be tortured by Ivan. Zaroff, thinking that Rainsford will take a chance with him, said, “You will find this game worth playing. Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine,” (11). Rainsford took the 3 day chance to elude Zaroff for three days in a life and death situation, and
When they start to talk about hunting later, Zaroff talks about how he used to hunt since he was five, and then joined the army years later, hunting more animals as the years went by, until they became too easy for him. Zaroff then talks about an ideal animal, saying, “I wanted the ideal animal to hunt. So i said, what are the attributes to an ideal quarry? and the answer was of course, it must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason,” (8). Another is Zaroff mainly hunts for the wrong reason. When Zaroff has been hunting for most of his life, animals became less of a challenge for him, and decided to hunt for humans. Rainsford, who has also been hunting for a long time, was doing so to publish books and tell stories of what he’s done. Later on while they talk about hunting the next day, while Rainsford accused Zaroff for murder, Zaroff is endangering basically innocent sailors, and explains, “Sometimes and angry god of the high seas sends them to me.” When he turned on the lights to show Rainsford, he explains, “They indicate a channel, where there’s none; giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws. They have crush a ship as easily as crush this nut,” (9). So he uses a machine which no one could see, then crush the ship to bring them on to the
This changes Rainsford outlook on hunting. He first thinks of it as how “Animals have no feelings” and that Animals aren’t as important as humans. Rainsford then has his opinion change to the exact opposite. Being hunted is the most fearful thing to happen to him. The scene between Rainsford and Zaroff illustrates that both the same type of interests, but Zaroff just likes more of a “Challenge” or “More Competition” as he says.
Even though Rainsford tries to stop him, Zaroff still tries to hunt Rainsford down. At the end, Rainsford learns that if you get stuck in a situation you can not get out of, you should not give up and keep trying. Rainsford did not give up and kept trying, and eventually outsmarted Zaroff and beat him at his own game. We are never told that he won the game, but when Zaroff says, “‘You have won the game... On guard, Rainsford,’” we know that Rainsford wins, but to truly win someone has to die.
I give him a supply of food, a hunting knife, and a 3-hour head start.” With that, we are shown how little he thinks of his victims. Despite the supplies given to them, it is as though he’s mocking their abilities simply because they’re “less” than him. General Zaroff’s beliefs are vile, thinking it’s okay to murder innocent victims simply because they are socially ‘less’ is abhorrent. Not only are his actions hideous, but his feelings are as well.
The most dangerous game began as a sport for one man. His name is Sanger Rainsford. In Richard Connell’s story “The Most Dangerous Game,” Sanger Rainsford, an avid hunter, is lost at sea, stranded on “Ship-Trap” Island-every sailor’s worst nightmare. Rainsford goes through a series of events that prove to be life-altering. Even though Sanger Rainsford went through many trials and tribulations, he never lost his intelligence, composure, or his bravery.
In the text Zaroff justifies that he started to get bored of hunting animals because they were starting to become too easy to hunt. He says, “No. You are wrong, sir. The Cape buffalo is not the most dangerous big game. Here in my preserve on this island, I hunt more dangerous game.” (Connell 4). Zaroff is talking about humans. He kills humans because he was bored of hunting animals. For me this quote says it all. No sane person would hunt a human as a fun game. This is a clear fact from the text that proves Zaroff is a psychopath. General Zaroff believes that, “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. I am strong. Why should I not use my gift?” (Connell 4). This quote is explaining the whole reason why Zaroff thinks it is right to hunt humans. I think that the reason he thinks that's why he should hunt humans is the reason why he’s a psychopath. It makes no sense that a strong person should kill a weak person just because they have more power over them. It’s murder and no one should murder a innocent human just because it's
Zaroff is purely unconscious, and has no compassion or remorse for his actions. His demented mind forces him to believe that it is moral to hunt all living creatures, when in reality he is actually murdering a human soul. The general is sadistic as well as arrogant. He is mentally unstable, insane, and he denies the fact that he is committing something as bad as what he is doing. According to General Zaroff, hunting for him has been consumed by boredom and he no longer sees hunting as a challenge. Consequently, he chooses to hunt a certain “creature” with a higher mental stability of the creatures he has hunted before.(Connell 21) As Zaroff became comfortable with Rainsford, he
In the story Zaroff thinks it's not a problem if he kills the innocent people for fun. This mindset of his is openly showing signs of being a protagonist and going to do evil things throughout the story. In his conversation with Rainsford he clearly states that, "Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong,, andif needs be, taken by the strong.” He states that he should be aloud to kill just because in his mind only the strong people in the world have the will to live. When Zaroff says "Thank you, I'm a hunter, not a murderer." Also states that he thinks that he's not a murderer he's simply a hunter. Which means in his way of thinking or the way he looks at it what he's doing is not wrong he's hunting them, trying to figure out whose strong and who is not. He decides to hunt humans because he says there the only match for him no other animal is enjoyable for him to hunt. He has the sense of superiority that humans were the only thing left. Zaroff then states “The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure.” He thinks his actions are justifiable and that that's what the weak people are here for to give the more stronger and equip people pleasure. Zaroff then says “I am strong. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not?” In his mind since he is a good strong hunter why should not he be able to hunt he calls this a gift and takes a lot of pride in it. This is another statement he says showing he thinks what he is doing is good, eliminating what he says “scum of the earth” so the strong are the ones to live.
The Most Dangerous Game was a story made by Richard Connell in 1924, and had a movie adaptation in 1932. The short story tells about a man stranded on an island by the name of Rainsford. He finds Zaroff, a general with a great lust for hunting, who hunts people and Rainsford himself going to be hunted. He then attempts to outwit the general and ends up possibly taking his place. The film tries to encapsulate the excitement and story of the original version with more enticing visual effects and mostly succeeds. Although the film shares many themes and characteristics as the story, it has also changed many key factors.
Connell first demonstrates the General’s proud heart on page seventy. There is a conversation between Rainsford and General Zaroff and Rainsford starts with the question, “But the animal, General Zaroff? Oh, it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world… But no animal can reason, … there is one that can. But you can’t mean - And why not?” The General is referring that he resulted into hunting humans. Earlier, he expresses how this sport was becoming tedious and needed something that can reason, which no animal can do, except humans; without reluctance, he turns to them to fulfill his personal needs. General Zaroff is a part of World War I before he returns to hunting. Because of his experiences in the war, he believes that it is acceptable to murder human beings out of pleasure, while Rainsford disagrees. Overall, General Zaroff is betraying his egotistic side by being willing to kill humans for his
General Zaroff states, “ Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes- the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters.” ( pg 49) In this quote General Zaroff doesn’t think of hunting as a sport but as a correlation straight to real life. The quote shows that General Zaroff has an incredibly disgusting way of looking at life and everybody in it. General Zaroff’s insanity is shown because he think of everything besides himself as huntees and this shows he is a murderer. “ I hunt the scum of the earth- sailors from tramp ships, lascars,blacks, chinese, and mongrels.”( pg 49) This quote is saying that General Zaroff thinks that murder is a game, and he doesn’t feel bad about killing anyone of his hunts. This tells us that hunting/killing humans is a normal hobby for him and he does it often. The quote shows that General Zaroff’s mind is unstable and his thoughts are very distasteful. “ This is why I use them. It gives me pleasure. They can reason, after a fashion.” ( pg 50) General Zaroff is basically saying that he likes using humans for the hunt because it gives him pleasure. He is unbothered at the fact he is taking a human life away for a exhilarating game. When he says killing people because it brings him pleasure since they try to reason with him, but he puts himself in a position where he looks insane and murderous. It shows General Zaroff’s insane way of thinking and his thoughts on
The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell is an action-packed story about an eerie survival game. In the beginning of the text, a hunter named Sanger Rainsford is aboard his yacht when he falls into the ocean and swims to an island nearby. He spots a house in the middle of the woods and goes to it to find shelter, food, clothes, and a place to rest. At the house, Rainsford meets General Zaroff, who tells Rainsford that he has brought big game onto the island to hunt. Rainsford soon realizes that the game is human. Zaroff wants Rainsford to hunt humans with him, but Rainsford refuses because he thinks of it as murder. Zaroff makes a deal with Rainsford,which states for him to leave the island he has to be hunted for three days. If Rainsford