Was Rainsford Justified In Killing General Zaroff Analysis

It was hard for either side to prove if the accused’s actions were deliberate or in protection of himself. The constitution was brought up on the side of the defence under the concept of justifiable homicide. They said that Rainsford had the right to self-defence because he had been threatened and was in danger. Even though the threat was no longer present, Rainsford still claimed the right to protection due to the fact that he still felt threatened by Zarof, therefore giving him the right to defend himself, even if it lead to Zaroff’s death. The prosecution disagreed and explained that, because Rainsford swam to the victim’s mansion, hid away in his bedroom, and surprised the general, he planned his actions and had the upper hand. They also argued that Rainsford started the conflict in the bedroom by threatening Zaroff. Juror number five, when final questions were being asked, brought up the issue of Zaroff’s statement, “One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford." By saying this, it seemed like Zaroff had fought with the mindset of suicide. If Zaroff hadn’t told Rainsford loser would be made into repast for the dogs and Rainsford had won the fight, he wouldn’t have had to kill the general. However, Zaroff did make the encounter a fight to the death instead of a violent

“Rainsford said,Hunting? Good God, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder.’” (Connell 70). Rainsford’s personality changes throughout this story, but, the trait of bravery stays true throughout the story. Through his personality trait of bravery Rainsford moves the “Most Dangerous Game” plot forward.

I do not think Rainsford is guilty of murder because Rainsford was defending himself. What I mean by this is general Zaroff was trying to kill Rainsford in the most dangerous game. Even though the rules were if Rainsford wins general Zaroff will bring him back to the mainland, however, Rainsford wanted to stop Zaroff from ever playing this “game” again so no one else will die. Rainsford could not be accused of murder because if you compare how many Rainsford has killed and how many Zaroff has killed you will see that Rainsford only did this to protect himself. I know Zaroff killed many people because in the text it said that Zaroff uses the

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

General Zaroff is killed by Rainsford. Zaroff was killed by Rainsford because Zaroff had killed people for fun. Since General Zaroff did killed humans, karma came back around and he was killed. When Zaroff was hunting for Rainsford, Rainsford sets up a trap and it kills Ivan, Zaroff’s only friend. General Zaroff has killed humans that have their own friends and family. Ivan was taken away from General Zaroff as a sign of karma. While Zaroff is looking to kill Rainsford, Zaroff doesn’t know that Rainsford had a trap set up to kill Zaroff. When General Zaroff realized that he had been set up for a trap, he quickly moved out of the way. Even though Zaroff moved out of the way, the trap still hurt his shoulder. Zaroff had hurt other people during the past games that he had played, so he got hurt playing the game. General Zaroff has learned that what goes around, comes

The Book the most Dangerous Game is about Rainsford who is a hunter that got stranded on an island. He looks around the Island in search of other people so he can get food and a place to sleep for the night. While searching he is able to find a manor of sorts that has General Zaroff, a man who says to him that the only way to escape the island is to beat him in a hunt. What kind of characters are Rainsford and General Zaroff though? Both General Zaroff and Rainsford are similar in a few ways but they are both very different kinds of characters.

Rainsford is not a hero due to his egocentric attitude and hypocritical behavior. After Rainsford hears the hounds and sees Ivan and General Zaroff approaching, he then creates a trap to kill General Zaroff. When Rainsford hears the footsteps stop, he looks back at the trap and “[sees] in the shallow valley that General Zaroff was still on his feet. But Ivan was not. The knife, driven by the recoil of the springing tree, had not wholly failed” (Conell 14). This quote proves that Rainsford does not obtain the qualities of an altruistic and civil being. This is due to Rainsford wanting to kill General Zaroff for his own survival. Furthermore, once Rainsford accidentally kills Ivan, he swims away in refuge from General Zaroff.

In the story Zaroff thinks it's not a problem if he kills the innocent people for fun. This mindset of his is openly showing signs of being a protagonist and going to do evil things throughout the story. In his conversation with Rainsford he clearly states that, "Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong,, andif needs be, taken by the strong.” He states that he should be aloud to kill just because in his mind only the strong people in the world have the will to live. When Zaroff says "Thank you, I'm a hunter, not a murderer." Also states that he thinks that he's not a murderer he's simply a hunter. Which means in his way of thinking or the way he looks at it what he's doing is not wrong he's hunting them, trying to figure out whose strong and who is not. He decides to hunt humans because he says there the only match for him no other animal is enjoyable for him to hunt. He has the sense of superiority that humans were the only thing left. Zaroff then states “The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure.” He thinks his actions are justifiable and that that's what the weak people are here for to give the more stronger and equip people pleasure. Zaroff then says “I am strong. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not?” In his mind since he is a good strong hunter why should not he be able to hunt he calls this a gift and takes a lot of pride in it. This is another statement he says showing he thinks what he is doing is good, eliminating what he says “scum of the earth” so the strong are the ones to live.

Now I understand that the General killed for sport, but, Rainford oversteps his bounds as a person to kill. He is forced to play this “game” of hunting. Rainford tries to get out of killing by asking, ‘"Suppose he refuses to be hunted?" "Oh," said the general, "I give him his option, of course. He need not play that game if he doesn't wish to. If he does not wish to hunt, I turn him over to Ivan…”’ (Connell 9) Later on page eleven, he directly tells Zaroff what he is doing is wrong and he will stop it. ‘“Of course you, in turn, must agree to say nothing of your visit here." "I'll agree to nothing of the kind," said Rainsford.’ (Connell 11) Though Rainford is saving innocent lives by killing the General, what Rainford is doing is wrong. The General even said, "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. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not? I hunt the scum of the earth: sailors from tramp ships--lassars, blacks, Chinese, whites, mongrels..." (Connell 8) Is doing something wrong for the right reasons does not mean that it is not wrong? Rainford murders Zaroff without any attack from the general. ‘“The

General Zaroff is clearly not under control with his hunting habits. General Zaroff creates for himself, a dangerous hunting game. More dangerous than all the rest, an animal can reason and feel.This animal is a human. The general has gone over the edge. By following his instincts and making his desires reality, general Zaroff now has access to this dangerous game. He hunts and kills them with a pistol, disregards their feelings, and treats them like animals. Some people, such as Rainsford, have decided that obeying the law and sticking to the principles is better than following nature. Rainsford says,“Thank you, I'm a hunter not a murderer.” Rainsford chooses to be civil and lawful. Rainsford quite obviously has more control over his actions than the general. The general gives into his dark side and gives into his guilty desire to hunt animal that has reason, courage, and cunningness. Rainsford chooses not to because he knows wrong from right. But perhaps, when dealing with your human nature you must succumb to your darkest

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

I believe that rainsford should not be convicted of General Zaroff death. Rainsford was in a ship reck. As he was swimming in the ocean he seen an island. As he swam to the island he heard a gun shot as if someone was on the island. When he got there he seen a big house, so he knocked on the door and Ivan general Zaroff assistant answered the door and that's when General Zaroff was there standing. General Zaroff is a hunter and refugee who hunts men.

Rainsford was justified in killing General Zaroff. For instance General Zaroff said “Your brain against mine, Your woodcraft against mine.” (Connell 6). This shows that General Zaroff gives right to rainsford to try and outsmart him and try to win by surviving. If rainsford outsmarts him then he will get the victory or he can do what Zaroff wanted to do to him which was kill him. Also Rainsford disagreed when Zaroff told him about the hunting game. “No,General,”he said “I will not hunt.” Then Zaroff basically said he had to or ivan will kill him.(Connell 9).This quote means that Rainsford did not like the idea that he had to stay in a jungle and

Rainsford was justified for killing General Zaroff because what General Zaroff did to Rainsford and the previous sailors wasn't right. When Rainsford and General Zaroff were talking Rainsford told General Zaroff “civilized? And you shoot down men”(connell 3) this quote means that General Zaroff has hunted other sailors before.

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