The
Most Dangerous Game
Richard Connell
A Summary
• Sanger Rainsford, a famous hunter, falls overboard
from a yacht in the Caribbean. He swims to land &
comes upon a mansion where he is greeted by General
Zaroff. Zaroff explains that he, too, is a hunter &
uses his island home to hunt shipwrecked sailors.
Zaroff says they will play a game: if Zaroff cannot
find Rainsford in 3 days, he will help him off the
island. Rainsford sets off but he cannot outwit
Zaroff. Finally, Rainsford jumps into the sea. Zaroff
appears defeated . Rainsford appears, having swum
to the chateau from the other side of the island. The 2
duel; Rainsford is the victor.
The setting
• The setting of a story is the time & place in which the
events occur. Often a setting helps create a mood or
atmosphere . This story takes place in the 1920s in
different parts of Ship-Trap Island, including the
dense jungle, Death Swamp, & General Zaroff’s
lavish home.
The author uses contrasting imagery to communicate
Rainsford’s surprise at coming across the chateau.
He says the island is: dense, snarled, & ragged in
bleak darkness. While the chateau is enormous, lofty,
& palatial, with many lights
• The initial sense of relief that Rainsford gets when he
arrives the island or when he reaches Zaroff’s
mansion is gradually replaced by different moods.
• Connell describes the inside of Zaroff’s home as welllit, enormous building with pointed towers set high &
surrounded by cliffs – medieval style – huge rooms
with magnificent furnishings – mounting heads
everywhere. The description of this setting creates
unsettling, suspicious, & foreboding mood s
• The writer describes another setting, the outer
surrounding. He chooses words like: a rocky beach
with jagged cliffs – dense jungle – tangled trees &
underbrush – wild – forbidding – dark at night &
gloomy during the day – soft, wet ground giving way
to quicksand. The moods conveyed here are different.
One feels anxiety, suspense, frightened, & insecure.
Irony
• When Rainsford arrives to the shore he thinks,” All
he knew was that he was safe from his enemy, the
sea….” This is called situational irony . Situational
irony exists when the actual outcome of a situation is
opposite of what is expected. In this situation,
Rainsford does not know that the island he has
landed on is home to an even more formidable enemy.
• Another irony exists when the writer describes the
way General Zaroff is dressed. The writer says,” He
was dressed faultlessly in the tweeds of a country
squire.” He presents the appearance of a polite, well-
groomed, civilized man, yet he has just killed a man in
his “game”.
• A different kind of irony & that is verbal irony exists
in Zaroff’s description of his treatment of prisoners.
He calls them “visitors” & “pupils” & denies that his
treatment of them is “barbarous,” saying that he
treats them with “every consideration.”
Characterization
• Characterization is the method that the writer uses to
reveal a character’s personality. In indirect
characterization the author reveals a character's
personality through the character’s own words,
thoughts, & actions or through other character’s own
words , thoughts, & actions. In our story, we
understand from the conversation between Whitney
& Rainsford that Rainsford can see only the
hunter’s point of view& has no sympathy for the
animals being hunted. He is a realist who refuses to
take superstition seriously.
• The author relates images of hunting & death with
descriptions of the crushed underbrush, the
bloodstained weeds, & the empty cartridge.
Rainsford’s interpretation we know he is
knowledgeable about guns, fighting, & the
wilderness. He has good reasoning powers.
 Zaroff’s narration of his life story shed light on his
character. His healthy, privileged background & his
childhood history of hunting help explain his present
lifestyle & his boredom with hunting big game. Both
his hunting background & his participation in war
foreshadow his preoccupation with violence.
 Characters
 Sanger Rainsford: American big-game hunter and
author who saw action in France in the First World
War. He exhibits no pity or sympathy for the animals
he hunts. Then, ironically, he himself becomes a
hunted animal after he arrives on a mysterious island.
Rainsford is the story's protagonist, or main
character. Whether his experience on the island
changes his attitude toward hunted animals is open
to question.
Although Connell suggests that Rainsford now
empathizes with the creatures he has hunted in the
past, it is uncertain whether he will discontinue
hunting in the future. On one hand, Rainsford could
possibly abandon hunting altogether or at least
approach it with a new respect for his prey.
Conversely, Rainsford’s ability to sleep so soundly
after killing Zaroff may suggest that he has become
even more ruthless or hasn’t undergone any
significant transformation at all.
 General Zaroff: Russian big-game hunter from an
aristocratic family in the Crimea, a Ukraine peninsula
that was part of Russia until recent times. Zaroff is
bored with killing typical game such as tigers,
elephants, and water buffalo. Instead, he hunts the
ultimate trophy animal: man. Zaroff, a Cossack,
commanded a cavalry division in the Russian army
until the bolsheviks revolted in 1917 and installed a
communist government that abolished aristocracy and
the class system. Zaroff went off then and
established a new world for himself on a remote
Caribbean island. There he maintains his aristocratic
lifestyle in his palatial home while pursuing his
barbaric hobby. One might call him a civilized
savage.
 Accustomed to death, General Zaroff has lost the
ability to distinguish men from beasts, suggesting
that he has slipped into barbarism and lost his
humanity. The sanctioned violence of his youth and
early manhood drained the general of his empathy and
capacity to make moral judgments. His passion for the
hunt and love of the refined, meanwhile, led him to
devalue human life. In fact, Zaroff even praises his
thoroughbred hounds over the lives of the sailors he
hunts. Connell describes Zaroff’s sharp pointed teeth
and smacking red lips to dehumanize him and
highlight his predatory nature. Ironically, Rainsford
discovers that General Zaroff is far more repulsive
than the “scum” he disdainfully hunts, devoid of all
emotion and humanity despite his seeming gentility.
 Whitney:


Hunting
partner
of
Rainsford.
Zaroff's Russian servant and hunting partner.
Like Zaroff, he is a Cossack. Ivan is a giant, the
biggest man Rainsford has ever seen. Because he is a
deaf mute, Ivan hears no evil and speaks no evil but
simply does Zaroff's bidding. Indeed, Zaroff uses the
threat of turning his huntees over to Ivan if they will
not comply with his desire to hunt them; the huntees
invariably choose to be hunted rather than face the
brutal Ivan. Ivan dies as the result of one of
Rainsford's traps.
Ivan:
Captain of the yacht taking Rainsford and
Whitney to Brazil. He is referred to but plays no
active
role
in
the
story.
Neilsen:
 Type of Work and Year of Publication
 “The Most Dangerous Game” is short story of
adventure and suspense that conveys a serious
message. It was published in Collier's magazine on
January 19, 1924. It won Richard Connell his second
O. Henry Award for short fiction.
 The Title
 The word game in the title of the story has two
meanings: (1) human beings as Zaroff's quarry and (2)
the competition, or game, between the hunter (Zaroff)
and the hunted (Rainsford and other human quarry).
 Who Wins the Game?
 It appears that Rainsford wins the game. However,
close examination of the ending leaves the question
open. The key sentence to consider is this one spoken
by Rainsford: “I am still a beast at bay.” Referring to
himself as a beast may suggest that he has corrupted
himself, like Zaroff. After he kills Zaroff—
apparently in a knife duel—he sleeps in Zaroff's bed,
as if he is Zaroff. In losing his life, Zaroff may have
won Rainsford's soul. What is your opinion? Support it.
 Building suspense:
The success of "The Most Dangerous Game" depends in
large part on building suspense Richard Connell employs
several elements to create suspense. Connell’s Most
Dangerous game is more of a straight forward suspense
short story. The reader knows what is going on, but
doesn’t know how things are going to play out. There was
no real sense of mystery, but a sense of anxiety and
urgency. The question the reader was left with is more of
“How is he going to get out of this?” Except of course at
the end when we are not sure of what Rainsford will do on
the island.
1. Foreshadowing:
• The author creates suspense & foreshadows coming
events in the discussion about Captain Neilsen &
Ship-Trap Island. Mystery is created when Whitney
mentions its evil reputation but doesn't Know why
men are afraid of it. Words such as "cannibals",
"dread", & "evil" make the island sound frightening.
• Zaroff's mention of "more dangerous game"
foreshadows coming events. Since this is similar to the
title of the story, it signals a significant hint of what
is to come. Rainsford has no idea what Zaroff means
& thinks perhaps Zaroff has brought some exotic
game such as tigers to the island. His naiveté
compared to his usual sophistication in matters
concerning hunting indicate that he may be in store
for an unpleasant surprise.
2. Imagery:
• Richard Connell used various Sound Images. The
sound of the gun, Rainsford cry when he falls
overboard, the animal's scream, the pistol shots,& the
sound of the sea breaking on shore add to the story's
realism & suspense.
• Other than the forbidding sounds such as gunfire and
high-pitched cries that pierce the night, sending eerie
chills down Rainsford’s spine,, Connell uses Visual
Images. The darkness and the jungle add to this
feeling, as do the blood-stained weeds, the hidden
fortress, Ivan’s brooding presence, and the coldly
calculating General Zaroff. These elements, among
many others, build tension and pave the way for the
shocking revelation that Zaroff kills people for sport
on his island.
3. Diction:
• Connell uses vivid diction to describe the jungle & the
quicksand. He uses words like "denser", "sucked",
"viciously", & "violent" to help the reader visualize &
feel the jungle setting. They realistically evoke the
fear & panic that quicksand would cause.
4. Dialogue:
• Suspense is immediately established in the opening of
"The Most Dangerous Game." The reader is immersed
into a dialogue between Rainsford and
Whitney. Whitney, whose word choice creates
suspense, tells Rainsford about a mysterious island
that has the crew "a bit jumpy...even the toughminded old Swede." The night is dark without
a breeze. W. and R. disagree that evil is tangible and
sailors have a sense for danger.
• Think of other examples.
4. Pace:
 The plot of “The most Dangerous Game” develops in
an increasingly breathless pace adding to the tension
of the story. That night R. sees nothing, but hears
gunfire. He strains to see, mystified. His pipe falls,
he grabs for it, and falls into the water. He hears
screaming. (suspense)
 R. wakes on shore after swimming for hours, sees a
"mirage" of a chateau, meets Ivan and an enigmatic
Gen. Z. Their dinner conversation contains a conflict
of opinion about what to hunt. Suspense is created
as the reader wonders about the "training school" and
the hunt between R. and Z.; R. is given a
choice: hunt or deal with Ivan. (Suspense--what
will Ivan do to R.?)
 There is more suspense as R. is hunted by Z who
gives R. another chance when his first trap fails. R.
struggles with himself to keep his nerve (inner
conflict) and create traps to stop Ivan and Z. It
seems as though Z. will capture him even after Ivan
is killed, but R. jumps into the sea. Suspense
continues as the reader wonders if R.
dies; R. reappears--then the ending.
Theme
 Hunting animals is not sportsmanlike; with their
speed & instinct, animals are not fairly matched
against man's intellect & reason. Think of more
themes.