Comparing Most Dangerous Game 'And' Porphyria's Lover

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.

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

“The world is made up of two classes - the hunters and the huntees.” In the short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ which was written by Richard Connell there are two main characters, Rainsford and General Zaroff. Rainsford thought that General Zaroff wanted to hunt with him when in all reality General Zaroff wanted to hunt him(Rainsford) himself. Richard Connell uses irony, theme and characterization to develop the plot and characters. The use of these literary devices suggests that Connell wanted to make the story more interesting and suspenseful so the reader can enjoy reading it.

In “The Most Dangerous Game” Zaroff’s perspective on the hunters and huntees is taken very literally in the sense that he is at the point where he would kill humans for fun, but Rainsford would only kill animals, and according to these perspective it can be assumed that Connell’s view on human nature is that there can be a dark side to human nature when they are removed from society to a place with no restraints. “I needed a new animal. I found one. So I bought this island, built this house, and here I do my hunting.(Connell 18)” This quote explains what people would do to others when there is no one watching. Zaroff buys a whole island just to hunt what he refers to as “new animals” but are humans. When in a place with no restrictions, people

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

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.

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.

The perplexing character seems like just an extreme hunter but figure out an alarming fact that he clearly is proud of, and doesn’t regret pursuing. General Zaroff redefines hunting when he restocks his island with a new type of life. The character General Zaroff, the disturbed antagonist from The Most Dangerous Game, portrays some prominent traits including an arrogance/cockiness, skillful, and insanity.

Richard Connell’s short story, The Most Dangerous Game, tells the story of a famous hunter named Rainsford, who falls off of a yacht and swims to an island called Ship-Trap Island. While on Ship Trap Island, Rainsford encounters a man named General Zaroff, who began hunting humans on the island after becoming bored of hunting animals. One night, Zaroff announces to Rainsford that he will be the next victim in his hunting game. Zaroff informs Rainsford that if he manages to survive for three days without being killed, then he can leave the island. Throughout the plot of this short story, there is a consistent theme of the world being composed of two classes of people: the hunters and the hunted. General Zaroff and Rainsford both find themselves to be divided into this class system, at various times during the hunting game. In this short story, Connell uses foreshadowing to portray the idea that there are two classes of people in the world: the hunters and the hunted, in relation to Rainsford and Zaroff.

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 Most Dangerous Game”, author Richard Connell uses a variety of literary device to depict the theme. He uses the main character, Rainsford, to be the character which unfolds the theme as he goes through the experience of being treated like a wild animal and becoming the prey of another human for sport. Connell uses three literary devices frequently including foreshadowing, irony and symbolism in order to support the main theme, put yourself in the shoes of the animals you hunt.

Connell shows the reader the ugliness of humanity and the one-sided thought process of the human mind through irony in his storyline. "’For the hunter,’ amended Whitney. ‘Not for the jaguar.’ ‘Don't talk rot, Whitney,’ said Rainsford. ‘You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?’ ‘Perhaps the jaguar does,’ observed Whitney.” (Connell). Rainsford remarks that he does not care about the feeling of the jaguar. This is ironic because Rainsford himself is later hunted like the jaguar. He then learns the fear and pain of being prey. Rainsford crouches amid the leaves of the tree where he hides and Zaroff watches him from beneath. After Zaroff departs, Rainsford then admits that he knows the full meaning of terror. This quote helps to show parallels the terrors seen in war. "’you’ll find this game worth playing,’ the General said enthusiastically" (Connell). This is ironic because what Zaroff intends to do is hardly a game and instead Rainsford is running from Zaroff for his life, which is definitely not a game that is 'worth playing'. Richard Connell in addition uses irony to show the way that hunting is a game to Zaroff but is in reality a matter of life and death. "Rainsford admires Zaroff's collection of trophy heads, declaring that he believes the Cape Buffalo to be the most dangerous game of all. Zaroff demurs without providing details, suggesting that he has stocked his island with even something far more menacing” (D’Ammassa). Hunting is his main occupation in life, and he is rich enough to indulge himself. Zaroff is the hunter who exists only for the pleasure of the chase and the kill. His interests are selfish, his actions amoral. Zaroff refuses to immediately divulge the nature of the game he hunts, but he insists that he has invented “a new sensation.” Zaroff then tells his host that he had grown bored with hunting because he always

look at but he feels as if the Duchess takes him for granted and she

The poem Porphyria's Lover written by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue told in first person. The title is ironic, making the reader think the poem will be about two happy lovers. Although the poem is, in fact, about two lovers, we learn that Porphyria's lover is psychotic and the ending reflects this. The poem ends with the narrator murdering Porphyria with her own hair and does it seemingly easy. He doesn’t change his tone when speaking of the murder, making the reader do a double-take when he/she first reads it.