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 …show more content…
Zaroff makes sure that he can play the game with an opponent but he also makes sure that the opponent does not win. He thinks he is playing fair but the truth is, he does not play by the rules, as players of a game should. Zaroff uses his wealth to get whatever he wants to please himself. He has a butler named Ivan, who is a Cossack, which are strong yet deaf and dumb Ukrainians. He also knows his way around the island so he will know which direction to go and he has his home as a safe house. He has about a dozen dogs for even more protection and a gun. As a result, if anything might happen to Zaroff while playing the game, he will result in receiving help from his advantage. 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
He is another example that the quote, "You are most yourself when you're alone." does not apply to him. Throughout all of the story, he is shown as honorable, and cunning. All throughout the story, even when he could have died or killed another, Zaroff keeps his hunter prowess and honor. "Rainsford," called the general, "if you are within sound of my voice, as I suppose you are, let me congratulate you. Not many men know how to make a Malay mancatcher. Luckily for me I, too, have hunted in Malacca. You are proving interesting, Mr. Rainsford. I am going now to have my wound dressed; it's only a slight one. But I shall be back. I shall be back." this shows us that Zaroff, even in the face of death, will still honor the person trying to kill
General Zaroffs sense of cruelty is proven when he explains that he hunts people. In the story, General Zaroff states, “I wanted the ideal animal to hunt,…“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." (pg #7) Rainsford is quick to point out that no animal can reason but Zaroff replies, “My dear fellow," said the general, "there is one that can.” (pg #7) Zaroff is implying that he hunts
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.
“The Most Dangerous Game”,by Richard Connell is a short story about sanger Rainsford, an expert hunter. Rainsford falls off a yacht and ends up on “Ship Trap Island”,then is introduced to General Zaroff, who is also an expert hunter.Rainsford and General Zaroff talk about the game, and how it’s all about capital hunting. Rainsford finds out that the General stalks up the Island by trapping sailors and hunting them. In this paper,the characters of Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff will be compared,but their differences will also be discussed.
General Zaroff is ruthless in his hunt. He hunts sparingly with his prey, dangerous prey. ‘“Here in my preserve on this island, he said.” In the same low tone ”I hunt more dangerous game”’ (Cornell 5). Zaroff is ruthless, because he doesn’t care about the animal he cares about the kill. Even though he is ruthless he is bloodthirsty for his
Most importantly, General Zaroff is referred to as God because God decides life and death, and throughout the story, General Zaroff lures people onto his island. Once people are trapped, his hunting “game” determines if one gets to live or die. General Zaroff explains how his game works to Rainsford, “‘It's a game, you see….if my quarry eludes me for three whole days, he wins the game….If I find him "--the general smiled--" he loses,’"(Connell (2). General Zaroff’s game entails strategy between the hunter and the hunted, he will decide if one wins or not, and if one outruns Zaroff for three days he/she wins. If one would choose to not play the crooked game/lose the game s/he would be killed at the hands of Ivan. General Zaroff gives them a
General Zaroff is killed by Rainsford. Zaroff was killed by Rainsford because Zaroff had killed people for fun. Since General Zaroff did killed humans, karma came back around and he was killed. When Zaroff was hunting for Rainsford, Rainsford sets up a trap and it kills Ivan, Zaroff’s only friend. General Zaroff has killed humans that have their own friends and family. Ivan was taken away from General Zaroff as a sign of karma. While Zaroff is looking to kill Rainsford, Zaroff doesn’t know that Rainsford had a trap set up to kill Zaroff. When General Zaroff realized that he had been set up for a trap, he quickly moved out of the way. Even though Zaroff moved out of the way, the trap still hurt his shoulder. Zaroff had hurt other people during the past games that he had played, so he got hurt playing the game. General Zaroff has learned that what goes around, comes
In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff is shown as insane, cruel, and arrogant.Zaroff is shown to be insane in the story when he says that he kills humans for fun.“...Did not make me a coldone, cold-blooded murderer.” (Connell 70). This quote shows that Zaroff is psycho because during this part, it is showing that he is a murderer. During the story, Zaroff is also cruel.He shows that he is cruel when He says that he almost makes boats crash into rocks.“Where there’s none: giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws. They can crush a ship as easily as I can crush this nut.”(Connell 70). Zaroff shows that he is mean during this scene because he is making people crash, then giving them hope when
A man hunting humans because he is bored with hunting animals! On Ship-Trap Island humans are being hunted by another human. General Zaroff is one of the main characters in “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell. Zaroff encounters a surprise when he notices that Rainsford has appeared on his island. General Zaroff is a self-centered, psychotic and cruel man which ends up leading to his death.
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford, the protagonist, and General Zaroff, the antagonist, have similar life experiences and beliefs, but their one difference, the will to take a human life for sport, builds the suspense up to Rainsford killing Zaroff for the greater good. Zaroff and Rainsford share many life experiences that majorly impacts their conflict. For example, Rainsford set up three different animal traps to kill Zaroff and Zaroff recognized two of the three immediately because of the similar hunting experiences. Rainsford starts thinking like the General when he is setting up traps such as the Malay Man Catcher and the Burmese tiger pit. When Zaroff is hit by Rainsford’s first trap he says, “I, too, have hunted in Malacca,”(14) here right off the bat if it hadn’t been for Zaroff and Rainsford going to Malacca and learning the Malay Mancatcher then Zaroff might have been killed by Rainsford.
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
Hunting has been considered as an evil and uncivilized sport to many in our society. Many people are fine with eating hunted animals, but are not okay with people hunting animals. There have been many debates on which situations of hunting are ethical or not. In the story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, it talks about a man named General Zaroff who thinks it is okay to hunt animals and humans. He keeps his humans as prisoners but still takes care of them until they are ready to be hunted. Despite the fact that he feeds and shelters his humans, General Zaroff is uncivilized because he thinks that it is fair to kill other humans for his own pleasure.
Imagine a time where you had an argument with your parents. What would was the outcome of the argument? Did you get what you wanted? Many may wonder: why would you argue with when you now you most likely will not get your way. Maybe we argue because we are mad and want to vent Maybe we argue because we are convinced we are right even if we realize later that we weren't. We ask ourselves why why do we fight battles we now we are destined to lose? The argument of “The Most Dangerous Game” General Zaroff, hunts trapped sailors on his island. He does this because he is bored of hunting animals he knows he will win. He thinks he will also defeat Rainsford, other great hunter. Zaroff is a murderer and is uncivilized because he killed people
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
Thesis: General Zaroff is the main Antagonist in The Most Dangerous Game. General Zaroff shows an affection for chasing, a frail and unremorseful personality, General Zaroff also shows pride and arrogance. These three character attributes