How Is Irony Used In The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

Imagine someone spends their entire life working hard towards becoming a divorce lawyer and then they suddenly are facing the same problem they are meant to help find a solution for, divorce. This is an example of an ironic situation. Irony is used in many different forms of literature and by many different authors and writers to highlight and focus on important aspects of their work. Ironic situations provide more information to the reader and allow revelations to be made within the story. For instance, an author who uses this literary technique is Richard Connell in one of his most well-known short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game”. In “The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell uses irony to illustrate the concept of the hunter-becomes-the-hunted

To illustrate, it is described that Rainsford is shown to have the traits of a youthful, masculine, elegant, and hero-like figure, but his first name “Sanger '' holds the meaning of blood (Thompson). The implication of irony in this scenario is how his persona represents the good characteristics of a person while his name means blood, adding to his merciless identity. Dunvealy’s work adds to this as he writes, “Rainsford presumes that hunting is a sport involving no more moral consequences than a game such as baseball; he further demonstrates his naïveté by assuming that his victims, big-game animals, have no feelings. These two beliefs, based as they are on Rainsford’s certainty that man is superior to animal, are challenged when he encounters General Zaroff, who has pushed the same ideas to their inhumane limits in his madness” (Dunvealy). Dunvealy’s commentary emphasizes the irony in Rainsford’s belief about hunting. At first, Rainsford is seen viewing hunting as a game that holds no moral consequences and has no effect on the animals. However, he is later challenged when met by Zaroff who also had the same viewpoint, but on a much larger scale. Rainsford ironically realizes the true nature of hunting when his own actions are pushed against him. In addition, when General Zaroff is trying to convince Rainsford to join the hunt, Connell writes, "’I'll wager you'll forget your notions when you go hunting with me. You've a genuine new thrill in store for you, Mr. Rainsford’, ‘Thank you, I'm a hunter, not a murderer’" (Connell). This quote accentuates Rainsford’s way of justifying his brutality and actions. In reality, hunting is a sport of violence and immoral activities. Initially, he is portrayed as confident and skilled, but meeting Zaroff causes his beliefs to shift entirely, revealing the newfound