The Most Dangerous Game: The Hunters and the Hunted

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.”

“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.

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell has been a classic among bookworms looking for a short fix since the 1920s. The story is centered around two main characters, Rainsford and General Zaroff who are both worthy hunters. When Rainsford stumbles upon Zaroff, he finds himself participating in a new game, the hunt for his life. With eyes glued to the writing, someone may not even notice the discretely placed allusions. The allusions in this story are used to make connections between the text and the reader.

“ The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees,” stated Rainsford in the famous short story, The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell. Connell’s story is a fictional story about man hunting man. His piece of literature was made into a movie later on, and in the movie Rainsford made a very similar statement. However, there were changes made between the short story and movie. The similarities and differences become clear in both the plot and resolution. Although the the literary work and motion picture have much in common, they are also quite different.

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

After the General allows small glimpses into his psyche, the fact that he is a disturbed person is temporarily forgotten about as the battle between him and Rainsford begins. In “Hunters in the Snow”, the situation with the shooting occurs early on, but the main focus of the story then transfers to the characters' and their issues for the remainder of the story. Rainsford is the typical hero: He is clever and moral, as opposed to Zaroff who is immoral. Though he claims to be "a beast at bay," Rainsford has now fully reverted to hunter mode, swimming across a small bay to Zaroff's chateau to arrive there before the general can make it back through the jungle.… out the shadowy outlines of a palatial chateau; it was set on a high bluff, and on three sides of it cliffs dived down to where the sea licked greedy lips in the shadows”. Rainsford claims that no animal can reason and when he realizes what Zaroff is doing, he calls it cold-blooded murder. Zaroff retreats to the chateau, assuming he has won the game. The General explains, "hunting was beginning to bore him," and reveals that he had to invent a new animal to hunt, one that must have "courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason. Rainsford survives, winning the game. A story, which relies on action, coincidence and surprise, is precisely the motivation that Connell needs to create a memorable commercial fiction. Rainsford is given the impression that General Zaroff is a wealthy and prominent hunter. "

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.

Presumption of one’s character, lifestyle, or troubles in life is taken from looking at that person and assuming you know all about them. In order to fully understand someone’s pain, you must endure it in their shoes. This is the theme for the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” written by Richard Connell. As Rainsford, the main character of the short story, tries to survive in the wild from a psychotic general who hunts humans as game, the reader sees his change in perspective on what it feels to be hunted. This demonstrates the theme of the short-story through the use of situational irony, man vs. man conflict, and internal conflict.

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.

Hunting big game animals for sport was a popular pastime with the wealthy classes following World War I. The morality of killing for sport was not questioned in reality, but in this short story the author does question it by taking it a step further and having the protagonist, Sangor Rainsford, hunted by the antagonist, General Zaroff.In a short story full of irony, one of the greatest ironies of Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” is that General Zaroff repeatedly tells Rainsford that he maintains a sense of civilization on his island.

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.

Thus through this experience he began learning about how the animals felt in his previous hunting experiences. During his battle royal fight with the general he had used his experience and knowledge of hunting to catch and kill the general. Consequently he was now violating his own golden rule, loosing his values of not killing humans. Through this action he went through a metamorphosis becoming the “brute”. This newfound outlook lead him learn about what it is like to be the one being hunted. After there continual exchange of mental torment Rainsford enters the main house to murder the general. Something is different though he doesn’t stop when the general said “you have won” he doesn’t care anymore, he just wants to kill him. We can see this when Rainsford says “I am still a beast at bay”. We can see that the use of the language technique of dramatic irony is empathetic towards this scene. The use of this technique shows us that he (who was the hunter of the beast) has now become the beast in the hunt. This emphasizes the idea that Rainsfords experiences of being hunted has changed him and shows how Connell was trying to express the idea that your experiences shape you, and how you learn from it will shape who you are. We can also see how Connells message about learning and experience is expressed through the use of the language technique of metaphor. We can see that this use of metaphor shows us how he has become a “beast”. Through this it

Imagine a world where people hunt other people as a sport and the hunters become the prey in a fight to survive. In the short story, “The most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell there is a rich hunter named Sanger Rainsford and he is on his yacht in the middle of the Caribbean. After hearing a gunshot he leans over the side of the yacht and he swims to a strange island. On that Island he meets General Zaroff. During a dinner Zaroff tells Rainsford about the hunts he likes to go on and after much convincing Rainsford reluctantly agrees to go on the hunt. Rainsford spends the next few days in a fight for his survival and ends up winning “the game.” In “The Most Dangerous Game” Richard Connell creates suspense by using two elements: foreshadowing and dangerous action.

Imagine you, a well known hunter, are stranded on a humid, tropical island with no wildlife other than a psychotic man. This psychopath is a fellow hunter, but desires to poach even greater and smarter game with extremely high intelligence, and is the smartest animal of all -- humans. Throughout the story, the author creates a suspenseful mood through several conflicts the main character encounters, while struggling to survive the “most dangerous game.” In Richard Connell’s short adventure story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” Rainsford, a hunter, travels to South America on a hunting expedition, when he carelessly falls off his yacht and into the Caribbean Sea. Struggling to find a place to rest, he swims to an island off in the distance. Upon reaching the island, he comes across a large building where he is warmly welcomed by the owner of the establishment, also a renowned hunter, named General Zaroff, only to find that he is a lunatic. After learning of General Zaroff’s sins, Rainsford is challenged by the general in a game of life and death, and their specialty, hunting. From beginning to end, the author of this short survival story creates a suspenseful mood through the three main conflicts the main character encounters.

Sometimes pride can be a fatal game. “The Most Dangerous Game” is a short story where two men battle with egotism. Each one believes that he is the prime hunter and that nothing could stop either one of them. The protagonist, Rainsford, and antagonist, General Zaroff, are active huntsmen who use their vigorous and intelligent mind to each survive the dangers of Ship-Trap Island and be a successful hunter. Richard Connell's story of the deadly game evokes the theme of competent, prideful men who detach from morality.