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Essay on The Most Dangerous Game: Zaroff

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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

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