General Zaroff In The Most Dangerous Game

Over 125,000 animals are hunted for sport each year, and for some people, this is not enough (Cappiello). General Zaroff in Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game became so bored of hunting animals, he had to move onto the biggest and most dangerous game to hunt: humans. Richard Connell tells the exciting story of acclaimed hunter Sanger Rainsford and his struggles having to escape the human-hunter general Zaroff. Connell presents a thrilling story with intricate characters and detailed settings, all adding up to the enticing adventure known as The Most Dangerous Game. In The Most Dangerous Game, Connell introduces two main characters, the protagonist Sanger Rainsford, and the antagonist General Zaroff. These two characters represent

The protagonist of this story, hunter Sanger Rainsford, fits all the attributes of a protagonist in the adventure genre. Not only is he brave for facing the general, but he has a good moral compass, despite evident character flaws. Connell introduces Rainsford’s flaws as he is talking to Whiteny on the boat at the beginning of the story. “The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters” (Connell 1). Here Connell implies that Rainsford has no empathy for the being that is being hunted. This is not only ironic because soon he is the one being hunted, but it shows Rainford has character flaws despite being the protagonist. Regardless of his flaws, overall Rainsford has a strong moral compass. When General Zaroff reveals his hobby of hunting and murdering people, Rainsford immediately rejects the invitation to join in the hunt. “‘Thank you, I'm a hunter, not a murderer.’” (Connell 10). Although Rainsford has obvious character flaws, his reluctance to join the general in murdering shows his strong sense of right and wrong. Along with Rainford complying to the characteristics of an adventure story protagonist, Connell’s antagonist, General

General Zaroff displays little empathy for human life while explaining his murderous game to Rainsford. “‘I refuse to believe that so modern and civilized a young man as you seem to be harbors romantic ideas about the value of human life.’” (Connell 10). General Zaroff reveals his philosophy that human life has no value and that killing for his own pleasure is justifiable. Both Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff are characters that accurately depict the characteristics of an adventure story.

In addition, the setting of Richard Connell's story obtains all the characteristics of the adventure genre. The setting of any story or movie is pivotal for understanding the genre. In The Most Dangerous Game, two major characteristics that make this story adventurous is the multiple setting changes and how dangerous the setting is. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Rainsford and Whitney who are on a yacht. The yacht is the very first location but the first drastic setting change is when Rainsford falls overboard and swims to ‘Ship-Trap Island’. Here we have, at the very beginning of the story, a dramatic scene