General Zarroff Character Analysis Essay

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I have read the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. In this story, Rainsford, a faimed author and hunter, falls off his ship and winds up on an island where he meets a man. This man turns out to be a former Russian General, General Zarroff. General Zarroff , it just so happens, is a hunter in his own but of a different nature. To escape the island he must outwit his host in the General’s own game of hunting. This requires him to go to extreme lengths to survive on the Devilish island he wound up on. In this journal, I will be evaluating General Zarroff and describing his personality.

G: Zarroff is refined and collected. Y. (Transition){(adj.) Refined R Ivan (2-3) with examples, and quotes R Dogs R Pistol Y. (transition) (adj.)Collected R Tracking/hunting R Poise R isolated
G: Ultimately, Zarroff can be characterized as …show more content…

First off, Connell first introduces Zarroff to us by portraying him as the “Master of the House”, and seemingly develops this dignified aura around General Zarroff. When he does this we can see that Zarroff seems to have his servant Ivan’s total obedience. Ivan is on the verge of shooting Rainsford, but as soon as Zarroff gives a gesture for Ivan to back away Ivan immediately responds by removing himself from the situation. Consequently we can see that while Zarroff is clearly in charge, he seems to avoid putting himself in potentially powerless situations. This is exemplified when Rainsford sets up the trap that wounds Zarroff, Zarroff immediately retreats to avoid an still advantageous position.To strengthen his seemingly refined demeanor, Zarroff uses dogs to track his prey at times. This can allow the reader to see that Zarroff, although he is cunning and openly confident is his abilities, is more than happy to let his hounds get nitty