I read the short story, The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. In this story a man named Rainsford falls off of a boat by a deserted-looking island. He finds a creepy man named Zaroff that lives on the island, and Zaroff hunts people that he traps on his island. In this journal, I will be evaluating the character of Zaroff. Throughout this journal, Zaroff can be characterized as mysterious and evil. First off, Zaroff is mysterious. One way he is mysterious is that he knows Rainsford’s name and he read Rainsford’s hunting book. In the book it says, “I’ve read your book about hunting snow leopards in Tibet…” (Connell 3). This quote shows that Zaroff is interested in hunting dangerous animals and knows that Rainsford is good at hunting …show more content…
Another way Zaroff is mysterious is that he lives in a mansion on a deserted island with a giant. The text says, “...he saw to his great astonishment that all the lights were in one enormous building…” (Connell 3). It says Rainsford was astonished because he saw a random and huge building in the middle of nowhere. A third way Zaroff is mysterious is that large, fast, and strong animals that normal people think are scary are not scary to him. We know this because in the text it says, “No thrill left in tigers, no real danger” (Connell 5). Zaroff does not believe that tigers, very powerful animals, are a threat to him. Next, Zaroff is evil. The first way he is evil is that he traps sailors and people on boats onto his thought-to-be-deserted island. The book says, “...giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws” (Connell 7). The general traps them to go into the rocks and have their boat torn apart, and then they are stranded on the island. One other way Zaroff is evil is that he hunts humans on his island for his own enjoyment. It says in the text, "Civilized? And you shoot down men?" (Connell 7). Zaroff does not believe that it is crazy to murder people, and this makes Rainsford
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
One reason that I think that General Zaroff is a villain is that of his cruel actions against other people. General Zaroff tells Rainsford that he has the best animal to hunt and it “ supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world” (Connell page 11). When Rainsford hears this, he thinks of an animal that cannot be found anywhere
Underestimation and cruel actions lead to many things. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” author Richard Connell reveals a conflict between the main characters, General Zaroff and Rainsford. Rainsford was to play the most dangerous game created by Zaroff, because the only way to survive, is to win it, otherwise death is the only other option. As demonstrated through the use of personification, symbolism, and repetition in the story, it conveys that one should understand to never underestimate another person and remember that there will always be a consequence for the wicked things that one has done.
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
General Zaroff is similar to Rainsford because they are both Dangerous, and Zaroff shows this in the story because he has hunted a lot. This is seen in the story when it says, “God makes some men poets, Some he makes king, some beggars, Me he made a hunter.” (Page 48). He was born with a gift for hunting. However, Zaroff is different from Rainsford because he is militaristic, which he shows through his past and his looks. An example of this is seen in the story, which states “I went into the military… and for a time commanded a division of Cossack cavalry” (Page 44). He was able to lead a division of the military. Zaroff is also different since he can be described as self-justified, because he is okay with hunting people. In the text, this is shown when it says, “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong.” (Page 49). He feels that is someone can’t beat them they don’t need to be living. Zaroff and Rainsford may both be dangerous, but the fact that Zaroff is self-Justified and Militaristic make him a completely different kind of
A man gets hunted by another man on the deserted Ship-Trap Island in the middle of the Caribbean. Rainsford, the protagonist in “The Most Dangerous Game”, a short story written by Richard Connell, gets hunted by General Zaroff. Rainsford abounds with fear, making him crazy. General Zaroff’s arrogance causes him to feel that he possesses the right to hunt the people he captures. His arrogance causes him to commit gruesome things; in this case, murder. Prior to becoming another man’s prey, Rainsford feels that animals have no feelings, but he sympathizes for animals being hunted after he himself becomes prey. His feelings and opinions transform after this experience. “The Most Dangerous Game” consists of three central themes: fear makes an individual crazy, arrogance causes hurtful actions, and some experiences have the potential to alter an individual’s opinion.
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game”(by Richard Connell) General Zaroff was a rich man due to his father’s wealth. General Zaroff is a great hunter and he has adapted many skills from hunting dangerous game. General Zaroff is a very interesting character in the story because of all the traits that describe him. The story starts out on a yacht bound for Rio de Janeiro where a passenger named Whitney points out Ship-Trap Island in the distance, a place that sailors dread and avoid. He and his friend Rainsford are big-game hunters bound for a hunting trip in the Amazon River basin. As the yacht sails through the darkness, the two men discuss whether their prey actually feels fear. Rainsford believes that the world
Zaroff on the other hand, believes the world is made up of the two groups; the strong and the weak. Rainsford only believes that animals should be hunted and to hunt human beings is murder. Zaroff likes to hunt humans. He likes to see which are strong and which are weak depending on how easy it is for him to kill them.
In this story “The Most Dangerous Game” By Richard Connell there is a General named Zaroff who was a hunter. Zaroff thought the the most dangerous game was hunting people. The man that was being hunted was named Rainsford. He had fallen off his ship, and swam to the island, and then found Zaroff. There are many parts in this story, and I wanted to tell you about it. Zaroff has done this “hunting” thing for many years. Now there is one man that is going to stop him.
He not only hunts humans and kills them for sport, but enjoys doing so. After all, the general only sees humans as beasts to be hunted. Zaroff does not even see his right-hand man, Ivan, as a human being, for he professes here, "Like all his [Ivan's] race, a bit of a savage. He is a Cossack . . . So am I."(Connell 24) This not only displays General Zaroff's opinion of his servant, but his own point of view regarding most human beings. However, General Zaroff does not only exercise every meaning of cruelty in a physical sense, but utilizes it in a psychological sense as well. Because of this psychological warfare that Zaroff wages against Rainsford, he fails to kill Rainsford the first, second, and third night. As an additional note, Zaroff also pushed Rainsford to the point where Rainsford would not give up on taking Zaroff's life, even if it meant that Rainsford would have to stoop to the level of morality known as murder. For an example of this internal game Zaroff plays with Rainsford, Connell wrote, "The general's eyes had left the ground and were traveling inch by inch up the tree. . . the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they reached the limb where Rainsford lay; a smile spread over his brown face."(Connell 32) This means that Zaroff knew that Rainsford was there, yet did not kill him for an unspecified reason. Those few actions could be overconfidence, or it could be General
Throughout the story there are instances where Rainsford shows that he is knowledgeable. While General Zaroff was introducing himself to Rainsford, Zaroff states that he read Rainsford’s book about hunting. Zaroff states “I've read your book about hunting snow leopards in Tibet, you see," (6). To write a book you need to be knowledgeable on the topic that you are writing a book about. Rainsford having written a book shows that he is knowledgeable in the field of hunting. Also when being hunted by Zaroff and a pack of dogs Rainsford uses a trick he learned in Uganda to kill or
Zaroff hunts people for his own entertainment and does not care about their fear. Zaroff kills many in cold blood, admitting to killing many and being surprised when Rainsford is appalled. Zaroff does not even have value for the life of his own workers. He seems to care little about the death of Ivan, setting his death aside as a minor inconvenience because he must be replaced. Zaroff’s lack of respect for human life shows that he is a villain and gives Rainsford more motivation to defeat Zaroff as a villain. Rainsford, a moral character, understands Zaroff’s evil work, and knows he has to stop Zaroff. Zaroff having this trait also develops Rainsford’s character, because he realizes that killing without considering the feelings of the victim is evil as it is embodied by Zaroff. Rainsford originally thought otherwise. Zaroff’s nonexistent value of life helps develop characters and give reason for his defeat, in turn strengthening his role as
When Rainsford fell off the yacht he found the house that Zaroff was living in. Zaroff was holding “a long-barreled revolver” and he was aiming it directly at “Rainsford's [torso]” (Connell 23). When Rainsford got to the house and Zaroff was holding the revolver to his chest, he would have been shocked to have a radical greeting. When Zaroff figured out who it was he greeted him inside and started to talk about hunting and how Zaroff has so many heads. ...
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
#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