The Most Dangerous Game Character Analysis

General Zarroff demonstrates his deep love for hunting when he says, “My whole life has been one prolonged hunt”(6). Richard Connell gives the reader a vivid description of the antagonist’s pursuit in his short story “The Most Dangerous Game”. While Zarroff is seeking his objective, the reader engages in Rainsford’s fear. This connection builds a feeling of terror at the heart of the story. Connell applies these concepts by wrapping his story in an aura of uncertainty. In order to create this suspense, Connell utilizes imagery and diction in “The Most Dangerous Game”.

He was able to use “a huge dead tree” that “leaned precariously on a smaller, living one” to build what is called a “Malay mancatcher” (12). While most people would probably just see two trees and walk past them, Rainsford was able to think creatively and put them to effective use. Even though Zaroff did not get caught by it entirely, the hunter was able to buy himself some time to move to a different area so that he could avoid the general. After he went back to treat his injury, Rainsford “took up his flight again” that “carried him on for some hours” (13). His resourceful thinking had allowed him to use even more time to put his plan for winning this life-risking game into action. Without this helpful asset, Rainsford might have been more prone to giving up and letting himself be killed.

Fear: Being hunted by another human. After falling off a yacht into the ocean and ending up stranded on an island with a human hunter, Rainsford has to try and survive three days while being chased down by an evil murderer called General Zaroff. After hunting all his life, Rainsford won’t ever hunt again because of his emotional and physical experience’s on Ship-Trap Island.

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 the story “The Most Dangerous Game” man versus man is one of the biggest conflicts. In the story it is Rainsford versus General Zaroff. Zaroff challenges Rainsford to a game, a hunting game. General Zaroff will try and hunt Rainsford. Zaroff use to hunt animals but he got bored of it, so he moved on to hunt humans. Zaroff lived on a island and it was surrounded by rocks. He put two lights on the two largest rocks indicating that was a safe way to go for ships because there were no rocks in between them, but it was a trap, in between the the two large rocks where more rocks. So the ships would sink and the sailors would swim to the island where Zaroff would hunt them. When Rainsford found out about this he was disgusted. Rainsford says to General Zaroff, “‘Hunting? Great guns, General Zaroff what you speak of is murder’”(7). But Rainsford had to either pick Zaroff’s hunting game or be tortured by Ivan. Rainsford chose to play the game with General Zaroff and the General was very happy because Rainsford was also a hunter so it was a challenge for him. While Rainsford was being hunted he made traps, the traps never managed to kill Zaroff, they killed his best hunting dog and Ivan. The man vs man conflict gives this

In any story, there must be problems that leave the main character in a predicament. That is the case in the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. There are three main types of conflicts. One conflict in man versus nature because even though Rainsford is a sailor, he is most hated by the sea. Another, conflict found in the story is man versus himself considering Rainsford must face the toughest challenge of all; himself. Most importantly, the last conflict is man versus man since Rainsford is forced to go head-to-head with General Zaroff. It is crucial that “The Most Dangerous Game” has these three main issues to make the story exciting.

In “The Most Dangerous Game”, the setting within this short story is very eerie. When Rainsford falls off of his boat, the chance of Rainsford surviving almost becomes very minimal. Eventually Rainsford ends up on a mysterious island. After he meets General Zaroff, he learns that General Zaroff is a murderer, and is set into the jungle to fight for his life. The jungle itself is very scary because it is designed as if it were a maze. Also, Rainsford has no clue of what General Zaroff’s location is, so he must watch his back at all times.

“The Most Dangerous Game” is a suspense filled, nail-biting, edge of your seat kind of short story. Rainsford learns of an island called “Ship-Trap Island” while sailing. Zaroff is introduced to the storyline after Rainsford falls off of the boat. Zaroff is a man with some strange tastes in his quarry that he hunts. Rainsford is a passionate hunter as well, but loves to hunt only animals. Zaroff loves to hunt dangerous game, but when he no longer fears any animal, he sets his sights on hunting human beings. Rainsford finally understands why Zaroff wants to go hunting with him. Zaroff plans to actually hunt Rainsford. During the hunt Rainsford wins the duel by killing Zaroff.

Due to the fact Rainsford is being hunted by General Zaroff in a jungle/rainforest setting, there would be many inconveniences for both, the protagonist and antagonist. Lack of food, pestering insects, and ferocious animals were shown throughout the story, but it held no negative effect on Rainsford, for he was victorious in the end. “‘I suggest, too, that you avoid the big swamp in the southeast corner of the island. We call it Death Swamp’” (7). This quote from page 7 shows how Rainsford struggles with outside forces, because of locations such as Death Swamp, which took the lives of many others. Rainsford would soon discover the power nature can play to affect the plot. General Zaroff used the powers of nature, not only through Death Swamp, but through hunting dogs as well. The antagonist attempted to hunt Rainsford through many hunting dogs. Rainsford, quick to the challenge, sets up traps to eliminate the dogs, and was successful in doing so. Not only are natural forces brutal, but the challenges one can face with themselves prove an equal or onerous

“The General was playing with him; the general was saving him for another day’s sport”. With that saying, the General saw where Rainsford hid, but he didn’t want to kill him yet because it would have been too easy. It seemed like General Zaroff wanted to suffer Rainsford until the last day of the games. And finally he is a tortures man because he treats humans like nothing; he does not care about them.

"Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and if needs to be taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure." (Connell 5). That is the philosophy of General Zaroff, a passionate hunter, who presents himself as a civilized aristocrat, but he is a truly villainous man. General Zaroff is the antagonist of the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" written by Richard Connell. With his immoral, barbarous, and diabolical personality General Zaroff becomes the perfect villain to oppose Sanger Rainsford in "The Most Dangerous Game."

In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell a man named Rainsford fell off of a ship and had to swim to an island nearby. When he arrived on the island a man named general Zaroff was there to meet him. Zaroff soon reveals the fact that he hunts humans on his island to Rainsford. The only way for Rainsford to escape the is to survive three days of being hunted by Zaroff. In the end of the book Rainsford outwits Zaroff and beats Zaroff.

Also, on the first day of hunting Zaroff found Rainsford on a tree but lets him go. Since one of the rules to the game is if he finds his prey he will kill them, you would think that he would confront Zaroff. However, this was not the case. Zaroff ended up letting Rainsford

Rainsford falls off a boat and fell asleep after he swam to Ship-Trap island. The next morning he wakes up, and follows a path that lead him to a massive building. General Zaroff opens the door and is pointing a gun at him. Rainsford told him not to be alarmed, as the mood calmed down general Zaroff let him inside. As they talk about hunting, the general said “Hunting tigers ceased to interest me years ago” he has a new animal. Rainsford said he will not condone

In every story there is always a mysterious character that the author does not provide enough information and background to the readers. This adds suspense to the story, adding more surprises and eye-opening astonishments. In the case of this short story The Most Dangerous Game, General Zaroff is that character. He is preceded as the antagonist character that is uncivilized, cruel, and reckless. General Zaroff plays the role of a dynamic and complex character that develops over the course of the story.