The Most Dangerous Game And 'Porphyria's Lover'

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.

Richard Connell and Robert Browning use extremely descriptive characterization to convey a theme that obsession can have a negative outcome.

Why does love cause so much death? Is love and loss really that much alike? It is loss because of love. “What’s the point if you hate, die and kill for Love. What’s the point with a love that makes you hate and kill for” (Gonzalez). Murder and darkness in “The Most Dangerous Game” and “Porphyria 's Lover” are found in the strangest details that are stated by the authors. The short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, is the tale of a man named Rainsford who is shipwrecked on a deserted and dreaded island, therefore he finds a psychotic man who kills people for a game. The man believes that he is still a civilized person because of the fact that he provides shelter and a bed to his prey before he ends their lives.

People are like onions; they have several layers and consist of a bitter core. In consideration of this reality of human nature and reality of a man-made society, “The Most Dangerous Game”, written by Richard Connell, reveals these dangers. It unveils the truth about blood lusting hunters and defines the meaning of civilization. In the story, just like in the real world, so-called rules and laws are made to suppress and dignify human savageness. Here, Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff are two essential characters—capable of virtuous actions, yet prone to decisions that reflect immoral tendencies, and so; a message is conveyed: without the practice of morals and consequences, corruption of man is inevitable.

In “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell convey the easily corruptible nature of mankind. Connell uses setting, conflict, and character to convey that when confronted with fear mankind acts differently, but without the ability to experience fear mankind abandons its morals.

"The Most Dangerous Game" is a short story written by Richard Connell in the early 1900s. It is a compelling story of pride and survival. He cleverly integrates history to seem realistic and draws characters from different ethnicities. The author uses many literary elements to add life to the literary work like foreshadowing, descriptive imagery, and figurative speech.

Isn't it crazy that some people can be so insane that they think that murder is okay? Believe it or not, in some cases this is what people believe. Two examples of this are the stories, The Most Dangerous Game, and Porphyria's Lover where the authors clearly show this satanic message. Through the use of characterization, and detail the authors Connell, and Browning contend that in some minds people believe murder is acceptable.

For one moment just imagine if your life was at risk and the killer was an arm’s distance away what would you do, run for your life or accept your fate? Whichever choice you have selected what if you knew the killer on a personal level and they had suddenly changed in personality, for example being caring or loving and now turning murderous. Two such authors, Richard Connell and Robert Browning have elaborated on this scenario in their writings, “The Most Dangerous Game” and “Porphyria’s Lover”. Connell’s story “The Most Dangerous Game”, revolves around a character by the name of Rainsford who is left to fend for his life after he jumps from his boat and soon crosses paths with another man, General Zaroff. This man, General Zaroff, is a skilled and devoted hunter who wants to find a different game to hunt. This game would be an ultimate test of survival for Rainsford as the new game is in fact himself. Porphyria’s Lover regards an unnamed narrator and his reaction towards what he believed was unrequited love. His reaction towards this begins to take a dangerous turn when his lover arrives at his home, to which he makes sure that she will never leave him again. Through the use of characterization,Connell thoroughly explains the altar in General Zaroff’s character from respectful to psychotic, as does Browning, but through imagery shows a shift in the character as he soon becomes murderous. Through the use of characterization and imagery,Connell and Browning convey a theme that negative inner conflict may lead to psychotic tendencies.

While some stories are nice and happy “The Most Dangerous Game” and “Porphyria’s Lover” are not like that. They are about murder. The characters think what they are doing is for everyone's well being and that this is normal, but really as the reader we can see that in no way is that normal. The authors use obsession to show man vs. man, man vs. nature and man vs. society. Browning and Connell use conflict to convey that trusting someone may lead to a negative outcome, that can show one's true intentions.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe are two short stories writers known for their anti-transcendental style of writing. Hawthorne wrote “The Minister’s Black Veil” and Poe wrote the “The Oval Portrait.” In “The Minister’s Black Veil” the main character conceals his face behind a black cloth. The town becomes engulfed in trying to find the meaning behind the veil. In Poe’s short story, “The Oval Portrait” a man finds he is in love with a portrait of a girl after staying in an abandoned apartment. Obsession is having something that someone cannot get out of their mind. These two stories have a common theme. Both of them share the common theme of obsession.

His poem, Porphyria’s Lover, has an unexpected twist near the end when the sullen speaker strangles his female companion, Porphyria, with her own hair. While the poem does give Porphyria a voice, it is used to call out to her would-be murderer in an attempt at connection. She does not realize that he hears her attempt, but then takes it a step further to make a claim for her worship. He wants her supposed worship to be neverending and poses her in death the way he wanted her to remain in life, surrounding him and comforting him. It is her silence that is key here for throughout the lines that convey her murder, she is never given a sound. Realistically, as she is strangled to death, she would have made some type of noise, but it is stricken from the poem. This is important because, even while the speaker is killing her, he cares so little for her that he does not allow her assumed cries to enter his ears. He wants to believe that she felt no pain, which can be seen on lines 41 and 42 when he says “… No pain felt she; /I am quite sure she felt no pain” (Browning). This repetition makes it seem that the speaker is trying to convince himself that he has not done anything wrong in killing this woman because now she is better off and he will forever be basked in Porphyria’s

“My Last Duchess” also written by Robert Browning is similar to “The Laboratory” as both are written in the form of dramatic monologues. “My Last Duchess” tells the story of a Duke who is arranging with a servant plans to gain the hand of a count’s daughter in marriage. The Duke takes the servant upstairs into his private quarters and shows him several possessions the first of which is a portrait of his "last" duchess. The Duke keeps this portrait hidden behind a curtain that only he may draw. The Duchess was apparently easily pleased: she smiled at everything, and seemed equally as impressed when given a branch of cherries as when the Duke married her.

Porphyria’s lover by Robert browning, made in 1836 is one of browning’s most famous monologues. The monologues is about the speaker who lives in a countryside with his lover named porphyria who worships him. Since his lover worships/loves him very much he decides to keep it that way and in order to do that he takes her life by rapping her own hair around her neck and strangling her. He does not bury her but he uses her corps, laying it by his side and playing with her eyes. He then stays with her corps all night proving that god hasn’t touched him yet. In “Porphyria’s lover” by Robert Browning, Browning attempts to convince the reader that the speaker is sad and unhappy but as his actions show, he is very aggressive,

This poem has a very noticeable plotline in which our narrator, Porphyria’s Lover, tells his readers how his lover, Porphyria, came over to his home and he realized she was very much in love with him. After this realization he strangles her to death with her long golden hair and then proceeds to spend the rest of the night snuggling up against her corpse. He tells this to his reader casually, almost as