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Character Analysis: The Dangerous Game

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Ship-Trap Island is like the nightmare you will never wake up from. In the book “The Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, a hunter named Rainsford was sailing in the sea to go hunt in the Amazon when suddenly he falls off of his yacht due to strong waves late at night. He ends up at this mysterious island the next morning where a general named Zaroff finds him. At first, Zaroff seems friendly but later on he puts Rainsford through a challenge where Zaroff is hunting Rainsford down for three days and if Rainsford wins, he survives. If the general wins, Rainsford will be killed. General Zaroff used to hunt animals as a sport, but now he hunts people. Rainsford will never hunt again after having to go through the dangerous game and being frightened …show more content…

One obstacle that was frustrating for Rainsford was that at the very beginning of the story, Rainsford wanted to leave the island so he would not have to face the dangerous game. Unfortunately, he could not escape the island, which led him to have to face extremely difficult obstacles that were in the dangerous game Zaroff made. Rainsford states that he “wish[es] to leave [the island]” (Connell 30). When the general hears this news, he tells Rainsford “you’ve only just come, you’ve had no hunting” and Rainsford is not allowed to exit the island unless he suffers through the game and survives (Connell 30). The fact that he has no choice to leave or not, he has to be forced to participate in the game and be chased down; which creates an external conflict for Rainsford throughout the whole story. Additionally, a hardship Rainsford had to face was determining whether or not he should rest for a night or keep trying to move around so he would not get caught by General Zaroff. By the time the sky turned to dark, “night found him leg-weary, with hands and face [cut] by the branches” of the trees in the jungle (Connell 32). After running in the jungle for a long period of time, Rainsford is unsure if he should sleep or try to keep on hiding. Furthermore, Rainsford went through a struggle when he got himself stuck in the quicksand Zaroff cautioned him about. As he was running for his life in the forest, suddenly Rainsford’s foot started to sink down into the ground (Connell 34). “With a violent effort, he tore loose [his foot and] he knew where he was; Death Swamp and its quicksand” (Connell 34). Since he gets stuck in the trap, he needs to find a way out swiftly out of there before General Zaroff catches him, which causes a big conflict for Rainsford. A final obstacle that was life threatening for Rainsford that he only had a few moments to decide what he should do to save himself. An external

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In the short story The Most Dangerous Game, the author Richard Connell shows that Rainsford needs control of his emotions, patience , and expert hunting and decision making skills in order to defeat Zaroff. Rainsford needs to gain control of his emotions to outthink Zaroff, who symbolizes Rainsfords "steep hill". When he finds that he is going to be hunted his natural instinct is to run and panic, but then he stops to look around and get a grip on the task at hand. Then at a critical moment when Zaroff finds him in a tree, Rainsford panics again because he realizes Zaroff is on his trail and is toying with him. Once again, he gains control of his emotions and formulates a plan.

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he Most Dangerous Game Around the time after World War 1 on Ship-Trap Island, Rainsford, the protagonist of this fantastic prose, goes through a dynamic internal change. In his short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell, portrays and paints a picture of how civilization and society can ever defeat a man’s murderous drive; the instinct in a man that pressures him on to perform a murderous task. Connell also touches on how the roles can change: the dominant can become subservient or less than, and how the forceful and strong minded can become the weaker ones. He tries to make the reader understand that to be successful, the hunter (the strong), must imitate the hunted (the weak); the man must act the animal, and civilization must impersonate and hide its brutality. The major conflict reflects dynamic change in the main

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As Rainsford is battling the quicksand, “then as he stepped forward, his foot sank into the ooze. He tried to wrench it back, but the muck sucked viciously at his foot as if it were a giant leech. With a violent effort, he tore his feet loose. He knew where he was now. Death Swamp and its quicksand.”

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That motivates Rainsford to wake and hide in a place where the general will not see him. The general gave him some suggestions that will help him during the game he also gave him hunting clothes with some food to keep him alive and make the game more exciting for both of them. Rainsford was a smart man he was erasing his footprint after himself and hid in the most dangerous place that he could find. Zaroffe was smarter and he followed Rainsford everywhere, there was a situation that Rainsford was about to die and the game end when Zaroffe was about to find him. He pointed his weapon at Rainsford, but Rainsford was lucky when the tree fell on the general's shoulder and he gets wounded, with that Rainsford got more time to go further in the island.

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Knowing he had little time to spare, Rainsford created a trap, intending to kill the two and their hounds. Rainsford heard no more barking or running and “shinnied excitedly up a tree and looked back. His pursuers had stopped. But the hope that was in Rainsford’s brain when he climbed died, for he saw in the shallow valley that General Zaroff was still on his feet (26).” Rainsford’s hopes had diminished because his plan to kill both of the humans had partially failed.

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“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph,” said Thomas Paine. During “The Most Dangerous Game,” Rainsford had to survive three nights as prey for General Zaroff. Rainsford, though, was only able to live due to the setting serving as a solution to the conflict. At the very end of the narrative, Rainsford’s options become increasingly more limited as time progresses. However, he is able to jump off of the large cliff and regain his freedom.

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Richard Connell Biography and Short Story Connections “The Most Dangerous Game” begins with a long ride on a yacht traveling through a “moonless Caribbean night” (1) making their way to Rio. As the two men Whitney and Rainsford finished their discussion about hunting, Rainsford decided to go smoke out on the deck. Until he fell overboard following the sounds of gun shots and ended up swimming his way to “Ship-Trap Island” (1) While he wonders around he encounters a hidden castle. He is then introduced to General Zaroff and notices that they both have a passion for hunting.

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Additionally, General Zaroff hunts everything that washes up on his island, Rainsford being one of the victims which consequently takes him lots of character to survive. Throughout the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” written by Richard Connell, Sanford Rainsford’s character is revealed as he undergoes trials throughout his journey being pitted against his host, General Zaroff, in a fight for his life. In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell, Rainsford is wise and self sufficient enough to help him get by the hounding of General Zaroff. In the beginning of the story, Rainsford unfortunately finds himself being shipwrecked on Ship Trap Island.

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“After swimming for what seemed like forever, I heard an ear piercing sound off in the distance. I decided to swim in the direction of what I knew was a gun-shot, knowing that where there is men, there is food.” Rainsford explained. He later went on to tell about how he weakly pulled himself onto a rocky shore, knowing that he had now escaped from the tortuous waters, he went into a deep sleep.

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Zaroff went on about how much he hunts, but he got bored with regular hunting, so he created a new game with a animal with more reason--humans. Zaroff challenges him, a 3 day game where Rainsford has to get hunted by him, or torchered by Zaroff's servant, Ivan. In the end, Rainsford wins the game, then

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766 Words | 4 Pages

Rainsford picked the hunt because he atleast has chances of surviving it other then being torture to death. Now it is a battle of two good hunters against each other and to see who came out alive. Rainsford learned that even the huntie feels fear when they are being hunted and that he was wrong in the beginning of the story because he has felt the fear of being hunted. Even though Rainsford survived and beat Zaroff this really did change him and open his eyes about the world and the fear that is felt by

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Also, General Zaroff is an extreme hunter and doesn’t find pleasure in hunting regular animals. Zaroff says the most dangerous game is humans because they have the ability to reason. Rainsford is going to be hunted and is given a certain amount of time to survive. Moreover, while Rainsford is being hunted Zaroff

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824 Words | 4 Pages

Therefore, Rainsford won’t ever hunt again because he is traumatized by his experiences on the island. With all his experiences on the island Rainsford became traumatized. For example when Zaroff tells Rainsford about the type of hunting he does, which he hunts actual men. “Hunting? Good God, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder” (Connell 23).

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However, it does not change for the better. In the middle of the story when he finds out Zaroff hunts fellow human beings, to Zaroff's surprise, Rainsford’s thought and reaction is utter shock and disbelief. “‘But you can’t mean-’ gasped Rainsford. ‘And why not?’”(10). Zaroff knowing Rainsford was a great hunter he hoped that Rainsford would accompany him on a hunt; however, Rainsford accuses him of being a cold-blooded killer.

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He had to fight himself to stay on track. He was so scared in the jungle while the General was trying to hunt him. On page 186, it says “He could not say where he was. That was suicide.” This shows the reader that Rainsford may be thinking of what could go wrong, and is not thinking on the positive side of things.

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