Most Dangerous Game Analysis

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.

In the story, Rainsford and Whitney are on a boat heading towards Rio to hunt. Whitney had brought up an island that is enigmatic.

It had been a week since Rainsford managed to kill the nefarious General Zaroff. The challenging part was almost over or so it seemed. There was not a clear way for Rainsford to escape. As days passed, Rainsford tried to escape. He tried making a boat from driftwood that he found, he tried swimming, he even tried sending a signal by using a flashlight. Rainsford had become so desperate that he even tried some ridiculous plans like trying to pole vault across the ocean. As a result, Rainsford ended up having huge gashes in his left leg ,which got infected, and he had to amputate it. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, Rainsford had lost hope and became bitter.

Suspense, thrills, and mystery? “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is a story with diverse genres and while leave readers thinking deeply about the author. The main characters in the story are Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff, who both have a passion for hunting. Except, Rainsford finally learns about what exactly Zaroff enjoys hunting. Rainsford is brought into a twisted game one he makes a bet with the general, in which he is hunted for three days straight and has to survive in order to win. He faces many obstacles, but he manages to survive everything he goes through deliberately. “The Most Dangerous Game” has many conflicts, for example, man versus man, man versus nature, and even to the point a man is versus himself.

Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" is a very exciting story of a manhunt. This story made me think about the morality of hunting: Humans are the cleverest creatures on earth, but does it give them a license to kill the other animals and even human beings weaker than themselves? I give below a short summary of the story to set the scene and then I will explore the ethics involved in hunting as a sport. "The Most Dangerous Game" presents the story of a hunter, General Zaroff, who finds hunting human beings as the most dangerous and fascinating sport.

Resourcefulness is being able to overcome difficulties quickly and in a clever way. Resourcefulness can also be using one’s surroundings for his/her benefit with prior knowledge and experience. In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game” the main character Rainsford shows these skills of resourcefulness as he tries to survive the hunt. Rainsford is an experienced big game hunter that is trapped on a tropical jungle covered island with another big game hunter, General Zaroff. Zaroff has gained so much experience in hunting, due to this he has lost interest in hunting animals and now enjoys the hunt of humans. Rainsford is put in the position to be torched or participate in a game of hunting. When Rainsford is challenged to this game of hunting he is forced to try and survive. Rainsford is able to survive the hunt because he uses his resources and prior knowledge to weaken Zaroff helping him win the hunt.

One of the darker actions examined in this unit takes place in "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell. In this short story, General Zaroff begins hunting a man lost on his island named Rainsford. Bored of the usual game, General Zaroff decides he wants something more exciting and chooses to prey on humans. This ill-judged decision has a domino effect on the plot, ultimately ending in the demise of Zaroff. Nonetheless, an alternate ending besides death could have very well been a possibility. Perhaps, instead of hunting humans, Zaroff decides to open a hunting camp to share his passion for the sport with others. Obviously, his boredom is caused by the island's isolation from society. So, Zaroff could have built homes and started a community or decide to leave the island altogether. Then, the course of this story would have taken a completely different path. Maybe, Zaroff finds a wife, they have children and live happily ever after. If only he was able to overcome his dark side instead of letting it consume him.

“Rainsford heard a sound. It came out of the darkness, a high screaming sound, the sound of an animal in an extremity of anguish and terror” (16). In the shocking short story “The Most Dangerous Game” created by Richard Connell, tension and terror is manufactured in the eyes of the reader. In the chilling story of a hunter and a huntee, the author subjects the audience to Rainsford’s grief and agony of the hunt. Combining suspenseful foreshadowing and vivid imagery, the writer produces apprehension and fashions shock in the eyes of the reader.

Underestimation and cruel actions lead to many things. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” author Richard Connell reveals a conflict between 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.

For your final follow-up assignment for the “Most Dangerous Game” you will choose ONE of the following activities.

Literary Devices and Impact in “The Most Dangerous Game” In his short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell expands and builds upon the hunter versus the hunted, through subtle and effective use of literary devices. Metaphors, similes, and underlying irony create a world much like our own, with very few yet complex characters. Rainsford, our protagonist starts out with ideals expressed with statements such as “‘You’re a big game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?’”(40).

Imagine, you're sitting silently, stealthily waiting, watching for your prey to come by and in the blink of an eye, you are the prey. Rainsford, a big game hunter experienced this in the story, "The Most Dangerous Game", by Richard Connell. Rainsford fell off of his ship and had to swim to a nearby island, where he met a man who would soon make him the prey. Rainsford had many feelings and thoughts that changed throughout the story, further developing the theme, that you can't judge someone or something if you have never experienced what they have.

In his short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell writes of a hunter named Rainsford. He finds himself cut off on a Caribbean island where he must survive a treacherous game of hunting. Throughout the story, Connell emphasizes the suspense of this story and places a sense of fear into the reader’s mind. He uses the literary devices of foreshadowing and imagery to suggest that terror and danger can be felt by even the strongest and boldest of men.

The world is made up of two classes-the hunters, and the huntees.” This short story written by Richard Connell, “The Most Dangerous Game,” contains many literary devices that make a story come alive. In this specific short story, conflict, plot, and suspense are used to push the story onward. Connell's way of using these three specific elements keeps the reader attentive, and leaves them questioning what will happen next.

In today’s world danger is at every footstep and knowing some self-defense skills can come in handy. In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell, Sanger Rainsford falls off a yacht and swims to a mysterious island. On the island, Rainsford encounters a strange hunter, General Zaroff, who hunts human beings. Rainsford seems to be the hunter’s next target. General Zaroff and Rainsford play the most dangerous game in which Rainsford punishes the general for his crimes. Rainsford’s actions can be classified as self-defense. By killing Ivan, the security guard, and the general, he proves that he does not want to die and the general was a criminal.