When Rainsford first meets Generals Zaroff, he is shocked at how civilized and well-kept Zaroff was. Rainsford drank his fancy wine, and ate his borscht. He would not have considered himself superior to General Zaroff at that point, because he was being a gentleman. As Rainsford and Zaroff talk, however, Rainsford gets a grimmer picture that Zaroff is a man-hunter who hunts to please his adventure-seeking spirit. Zaroff was almost pompous as he talked about himself. Zaroff, a man with great spirit for competition, challenged Rainsford to hunt with him. Rainsford believes in the hunt of animals, but not murdering other human beings for pleasure. As the two men hunt, however, adrenaline and prey-like instincts flush over Rainsford and he begins
Rainsford seems more kind than Zaroff and would not kill humans for pleasure. Rainsford thinks that the world is made up of two groups, the hunters and the hunted. He does not care about how the hunted feel until he becomes the hunted. But as he realizes what it feels like to be the hunted his perspective changes. He ends up becoming a better person because of this experience. After being the hunted, he takes more though into agreeing with what Whitney said in the beginning which was that animals may actually have feelings.
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
When Rainsford is put into the game, he thinks of a plan to throw off General Zaroff and says to himself, “‘I'll give him a trail to follow,’ muttered Rainsford, and he struck off from the rude path he had been following into the trackless wilderness. He executed a series of intricate loops” (Connell 34-35). Then Zaroff talks about his life, the war, and brags while saying, “‘I have hunted every kind of game in every land. It would be impossible for me to tell you how many animals I have killed’” (Connell 29). Not only are Rainsford and General Zaroff both hunters, but also they are very good and smart hunters. Rainsford says this during the hunt and it describes him making an intricate trail for Zaroff. He is using all of his skills and being very smart to try to lead Zaroff in the wrong direction. Likewise, General Zaroff says that he has hunted every type of animal. This shows that he is a good hunter and he has hunted so many he couldn’t even tell him how many he’s killed. This displays their similarities as hunters and people because they are very smart. In the very first scene, Rainsford and Whitney discuss hunting in the Amazon and they begin to say, “‘The best sport in the world,’ agreed Rainsford. / ‘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. / ‘Bah! They've no understanding’” (Connell 22). Later, Zaroff tries to persuade Rainsford into hunting humans because he thinks, “‘Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong’” (Connell 30). Another similarity the two hunters have is that they don’t care how others feel. Rainsford doesn’t care
While Rainsford tries to get comfortable with the place of Zaroff . He expresses about his feelings and hunting experiences. The General explains that “hunting was beginning to bore him,” and
In that conversation the General illustrated the characteristics of his new hunting quarry. Zaroff explained to Rainsford how he saw the sailors and crewmen as inferior to him, therefore he felt no pity for them. He explained to Rainsford expecting him to see the way he did, as a hunter. Midway through the story Zaroff began to see Rainsford as an adversary. The General wanted to be faced with a challenge when hunting Rainsford.
General Zaroff is similar to Rainsford because they are both intelligent, and Zaroff shows this in the story because of his up-bringing and past experiences. This is seen in the story when it says “I, luckily, have invested in American Securities, so I shall never have to open a Tea room in Monte Carlo, or drive a taxi in Paris.” (Connel 48) This proves Zaroff is intelligent because he foresaw the downfall of the Russian economy, and heavily invested in said American Securities. However, Zaroff is different than Rainsford because he is powerful, which he shows when he explains his quarry to Rainsford. An example of this is seen in the story, which states “To date, I have not lost” … “The most elementary sort of problem” (Connel 50.)This proves Zaroff is powerful, because he fears nothing during the hunt. If anything, he thinks it gets quite boring. Zaroff is also different since he can be described as serious, because of his history with the hunt. In the text, this shown when it says “Hunting was beginning to get boring! And hunting, remember had been my life. I have heard that in America, business men often go to pieces…” (Connel ?) This proves Zaroff is about the hunt because it has sparked a new, welcoming,
In “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford is terrified to find that General Zaroff is actually a murder. Rainsford is listening intently to the new “species” that General Zaroff is describing as hunt for his game. General Zaroff has a passion and has become obsessed with hunt because it “had been (his) life”, but sadly “hunting was beginning to bore (him)”. He was eager to continue hunting because of how much he enjoyed it. He needed a new way to satisfy himself while still involving himself in hunting. He decided to go to the extremity of killing people to satisfy himself and make him find new excitement in the one hobby that used to be his life and his source of happiness. General Zaroff’s love and passion for hunting cause him to kill and murder because hunting animals was not satisfying him anymore. Rainsford realizes that he is in the presence of a murderer and when General Zaroff is describing how he has found a new hunt for killing Rainsford figures out that “what (General Zaroff) speak of is murder”. While Zaroff is defending himself by saying that he is not murdering, he does not realize that he sounds foolish because he is saying that he has fallen in love with hunting of humans’ The idea that someone is no joke, but General Zaroff thinks “it’s a game”. Consequently, General Zaroff’s dark side comes through because his love for hunting
General Zaroff’s cool headedness adds to the various textual evidence that he is not, in fact, insane. When he is introduced to the story, he praises Rainsford's hunting ability with a seemed preparedness. Rainsford observes that the General seems to read his mind at times. He is prepared for every question that Rainsford has, and even answers some that were never asked. His actions seem calculated to make Rainsford more comfortable with him, however, as a fellow hunter, Rainsford observes, “whenever he looked up from his plate he found the general studying him, appraising him narrowly.” This makes Rainsford uncomfortable, sets him on edge for the information that Zaroff is about to reveal. During the hunt, Zaroff
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
When Rainsford and General Zaroff were conversing about Zaroff’s new game to hunt, Rainsford strongly disagreed but still kept his manners. This is proven on page 11 by a response from Rainsford to Zaroff “Thank you, I'm a hunter, not a murderer." Rainsford was also polite toward the end of the story by, not just killing Zaroff in his sleep without giving Zaroff a chance to defend himself. This was settled by a knife duel that ended up with Rainsford winning anyway. Zaroff on the other hand was not polite by calling Ivan his deaf and dumb servant’s race and him a savage. This is proved by this statement on page 6 “Ivan is an incredibly strong fellow,” remarked the general,” but he has the misfortune to be deaf and dumb. A simple fellow, but, I'm afraid, like all his race, a bit of a savage." This statement shows that Zaroff is very
Nevertheless, their morals are oxymorons that take deviating approaches in regards to humanity. With this intention, “Must’ve been a fairly large animal… hunter had the nerve to tackle it with a light gun”(20). In like manner, “Not many men know how to make a Malay man-catcher”(32). Rainsford's knowledge of hunting proves that he had a passion for learning how to hunt, because when you choose to learn more about something you retain information easier. Likewise, “I have but one passion in my life, Mr. Rainsford, and it is the hunt”(22). In the same fashion, “My hand was made for the trigger … I have hunted every kind of game in the land”(24). Zaroff, in the same way, has his own love for the hunt but Zaroff focused more on his natural talents and his results in hunting. Be that as it may, Zaroff and Rainsford also have their differences; “ Hunting? Good god, General Zaroff what you speak of is murder” (25). Rainsford was repulsed by Zaroff’s morals in regards to humanity illustrating Rainsford's compassion and love towards humanity. On the contrary, “The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure… I hunt the scum of the earth”(25). Zaroff Believes that Rainsford’s compassion towards humanity is his weakness. Zaroff’s maverick originates from his moral viewpoints on humanity and that he is performing his civil duty when hunting. Consequently, the exploited differences in Rainsford’s and Zaroff's morals outweigh their mutual love for
Ivan tried to shot Rainsford but General Zaroff denied Ivan to shoot him. Zaroff seemed to be more civilized in both manner and behavior than Ivan. He invited him on dinner and gave neat clothes and apologized him for the ill manner of Ivan. On the meal, Zaroff told Rainsford about his passion for hunting. Hunting of big animals that were imported. Rainsford understood that Zaroff hunt humans instead of animals. That night was troublesome for
Rainsford responds by saying, “‘Hunting? Great Guns, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder’” (Connell 12). Rainsford confronts Zaroff about his game he has created and tells him that it’s murder, and nothing but murder, to go hunt people like that.
Rainsford of course is flattered at first. When Zaroff invites Rainsford in to eat and talk, he explained “I was lying in my tent….when a terrible thought pushed its way into my mind. Hunting was beginning to bore me!” (7). Zaroff then explains that he solved this problem finding a new “game” he stocks the island with. Zaroff is proud of his innovation and expects to receive adoration “But what game?… I’ll tell you… You will be amused, I know...I have invented a new sensation,”(6), but instead receives disgust from rainsford “But you can’t mean-- gasped Rainsford...Great Guns General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder”(8). Zaroff’s opinion quickly goes from wanting to “hunt” with Rainsford, to wanting to “hunt” Rainsford after Rainford refuses multiple times to hunt humans with Zaroff “Tonight,...we will hunt you and I...No, general..I will not hunt”(11). Zaroff is offended because this is the opinion of his “hero” and someone whose opinion on hunting he highly respects. After Zaroff sees that Rainsford is disgusted by the thought of hunting a man for sport, he decides that Rainsford is weak. Rainsford does not care “how the jaguar feels?”(1) ,which shows that Rainsford and
Upon meeting General Zaroff however, the story becomes a lot more intense. Suddenly the great hunter Mr. Rainsford becomes the object of Zaroff’s eye. Rainsford is now the prey and is being hunted by Zaroff. It adds a lot more excitement to the story portraying Rainsford running and hiding to get away from Zaroff in fear for his life.