Ryan Long English 102-501 Monday Night Essay #2 23 September 2012 Essay #2 Question: Discuss the characterizations of Rainsford and General Zaroff in “The Most Dangerous Game.” Which one is more fully characterized? Are both characters plausible? The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, the author portrays two distinctly alike men, who yet are very different. The two main characters, Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff both have a strong passion for hunting. The first is Rainsford and he is, in all extensive purposes, the protagonist. The second, the antagonist, is General Zaroff. There is one other character, Ivan, but he really is simply, just a butler to the antagonist. While, the story does elude that Ivan could be a bigger …show more content…
“He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided” (Connell). Zaroff also shares the love of hunting but he enjoys hunting human beings the most. Zaroff has “fine clothes" (Connell), and the "singularly handsome features of an aristocrat" (Connell). Zaroff speaks very well, showing that he has been educated and refined. General Zaroff, can best be described as sadistic, arrogant, and manipulative, this keeps him at the focus of this story. The worst trait of Zaroff is his arrogance. He claims that he is superior to people of different races and feels it is his job to abolish the weak.. This idea is expressed when Zaroff says “Life is for the strong, and, if need be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasue; I hunt the scum of the earth” (Connell). This shows that Zaroff not only acts arrogantly, but also sadistically. His demented mind forces him to believe that it is moral to hunt all living creatures, when in fact; he’s actually committing murder. General Zaroff considers his hobby of hunting other humans amusing. Another strong trait is his ability to manipulate people, the General pretends to be civilized and generous thus, people start to trust Zaroff, but as soon as his victims feel comfortable around him, he forces them to play his “game”. This usually ends up in the death of his
In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, the protagonist character, Sander Rainsford is an adventurous and fearless big game hunter. Rainsford has no remorse for his prey. Over the course of the story Rainsford experiences a sudden change of heart when he finds himself where “The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees.”
General Zaroff constantly appears all throughout the story, whether it is in what he says, or the activities he depicts, that he has an exceptionally unsteady personality and is to some degree a psycho. For instance, towards the end of the extensive discussion between General Zaroff and Rainsford, General Zaroff says, "I chase the filth of the earth-mariners from tramp ships, lascars, blacks, chinese, and crossbreeds." (pg.
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.
“The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Cornell was a story which Mr.Cornell used 8 aspects of fiction to show his point of view that one who has intellect can overcome one who has intelligence or instinct. The character’s used in the story gave the author a way to make his point of view come clear to his audience. The story uses sequence of events. The plot is how the story goes about. The setting is the surroundings of the story, or where it takes place. The suspense is the temporary holding of the information to keep the reading interested, and to keep the reader guessing and wanting to know what will happen so they will continue reading your story. Foreshadowing is the readers way of telling the ‘future’, in other words the writer is
Some stories do not have many different conflicts in the story. For example, in “Little Red Riding Hood” there is only one conflict which is Man vs Wolf or Man vs Man, but in some stories like “The Most Dangerous Game” there are all three conflicts throughout the book. Having more conflicts gives the story a bigger theme of suspense. In “Little Red Riding Hood”, the only conflict is getting to her grandma’s house where in “The Most Dangerous Game” there are many different conflicts that give the story more suspense and make it more interesting. Furthermore, there are many examples of conflicts in the short story.
Imagine a time where you had an argument with your parents. What would was the outcome of the argument? Did you get what you wanted? Many may wonder: why would you argue with when you now you most likely will not get your way. Maybe we argue because we are mad and want to vent Maybe we argue because we are convinced we are right even if we realize later that we weren't. We ask ourselves why why do we fight battles we now we are destined to lose? The argument of “The Most Dangerous Game” General Zaroff, hunts trapped sailors on his island. He does this because he is bored of hunting animals he knows he will win. He thinks he will also defeat Rainsford, other great hunter. Zaroff is a murderer and is uncivilized because he killed people
Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous explains multiple theories, such as nature versus nurture, and survival of the fittest. This short story also seems to have an underlying theme of Social Darwinism (Of Two Classes). Throughout the entirety of the short story, Connell shows a character change of a main character, Rainsford, who is at a constant battle with General Zaroff, the antagonist. This character change shows the importance of the mindset of characters, and how it can be applied to everyday life.
Furthermore in the story “The Most Dangerous Game” General Zaroff had a strive to kill for fun. Zaroff would always kill animals, and after animals became easy, he moved onto humans. Zaroff would enjoy killing and it became
Another conflict in the story The Most Dangerous game is man vs man. Rainsford doesn't want to fight General Zaroff because he isn't confident in winning the dangerous game. But after General Zaroff forces Rainsford to play the game rainsford said “your
Only, this isn’t fantasy. Zaroff is not a character from a book. He is alive and well. This is real life. And the General’s existence is a crime and should have consequences for it’s actions.
In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff is shown as insane, competitive, and mean. General Zaroff is shown to be insane in the story when he kills humans for fun. “It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason.” (Connell 69).
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,
The harsh truth of island life reveals that Zaroff’s idea of civilization includes personal pleasure derived from murder .Zaroff explains his “game.” Zaroff has become bored with hunting because the animals do not provide a challenge for him, so hunts the only animal that can think and reason—man (Connell 74).He believes that he deserves the challenge, so it is morally right to hunt men. This is not civilized behavior. It is murder. He tries explains why it is right. “‘If I wish to hunt, why should I not? I hunt the scum of the earth—[…]’”(Connell 75).Zaroff believes that his social status and wealth give him the right to kill those in lower classes. This
Isolation is very hard to overcome and defeat. "The Most Dangerous Game" starts off with the main character, Rainsford, falling off a boat. He swims to a random island and luckily gets welcomed in by the owner of the house. The owner invites him for dinner and as they eat they talk about hunting animals across the world. The owner of the house, Zaroff, to Rainsford surprise, hunts human instead of animals because he is too good at hunting animals. He asked Rainsford to hunt humans with him but Rainsford says no. Now Zaroff wants to hunt Rainsford so he does. Will Kane is the main character in High Noon. He is the marshal of the town and he carries the lode of responsibility on his back. He sentenced an enemy to jail, but now that enemy has come back will his crew to kill Will Kane. In both High Noon and "The Most Dangerous Game" there are similarities and differences in the theme, main characters, and setting.
Connell first demonstrates the General’s proud heart on page seventy. There is a conversation between Rainsford and General Zaroff and Rainsford starts with the question, “But the animal, General Zaroff? Oh, it supplies me with the most exciting hunting in the world… But no animal can reason, … there is one that can. But you can’t mean - And why not?” The General is referring that he resulted into hunting humans. Earlier, he expresses how this sport was becoming tedious and needed something that can reason, which no animal can do, except humans; without reluctance, he turns to them to fulfill his personal needs. General Zaroff is a part of World War I before he returns to hunting. Because of his experiences in the war, he believes that it is acceptable to murder human beings out of pleasure, while Rainsford disagrees. Overall, General Zaroff is betraying his egotistic side by being willing to kill humans for his