General Zaroff is a deceptive hunter. Sagar Rainsford falls off a boat and swims to an island near him. Once he arrives on land he meets General Zaroff. Zaroff welcomes Rainsford into his home and treats him like a friend, providing him with food and shelter. The General slowly starts to reveal his competitive side as he explains to Rainsford that he enjoys hunting with a twist. General Zaroff appears to be welcoming, manipulative, and competitive.
Initially, when Rainsford and Zaroff meet, Zaroff welcomes him into his home and treats him like family. Rainsford decides to accept Zaroff’s invite because he does not know anyone else on the island and is completely caught off guard by the offer. Rainsford explains that “He was finding the General a most thoughtful and affable host, a true cosmopolite.” (26). Here, Rainsford notices that Zaroff is giving him high class food and clothing, he also makes sure that Rainsford has everything he needs to feel comfortable in his house. Rainsford starts to wonder about Zaroff as he is welcoming a complete stranger into his home and providing him with
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While talking the General tells Rainsford that he knows so much about him through a common interest of hunting. Zaroff says “‘I wanted the ideal animal to hunt, So I said, `What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?' And the answer was, of course, `It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason.’” (35). In other words, the General is telling Rainsford that regular hunting has become too boring so he hunts humans instead. It is discovered that Zaroff has been so accommodating to Rainsford because he did not want to scare Rainsford away when he told him that he hunts humans. In addition, Zaroff has been controlling the situation the entire time to make sure that Rainsford would not be so quick to run away from the idea of that
In “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff is shown as crazy, Fearless, and Playful. General Zaroff is shown to be crazy in the story when he traps people on his island and then hunt them. “No animal had a chance with me anymore”(. This quote shows that Rainsford is crazy because during this part, he is hunting real living humans. During the story, General Zaroff is also Fearless. He shows that he is when he is hunting Rainsford and he knows he is in the tree but doesn't kill him because he wants a better fight. “His eyes stopped before they got to the limb where Rainsford laid and he smiled”. General Zaroff shows that he is fearless during this scene because he could get killed if he lets him live for a better fight but
TMDG is a gothic tale of a famous hunter, who had an accident at sea, named Rainsford. He swims his way to the shores of an island that is populated by another hunter, by the name of Zaroff, and his henchmen, Ivan. Rainsford is greeted with five star hotel hospitality until Zaroff brags
When world renowned hunter, Sanger Rainsford ends up marooned on an island, he finds himself in an unimaginable word. A world full of murder. He must find a way to save himself and the ones around him. Rainsford is the lesser of two evils he may have a passion for hunting but unlike General Zaroff he has limits, Rainsford kills Zaroff to save himself and many future victims.
In the beginning of the story, Rainsford has a conversation with his friend, Whitney, about hunting animals. Rainford does not care about the animals that he hunts. He believes hunting is only a sport to kill innocent creatures. “‘Who cares how a jaguar feels?’” (1) Showing the reader exactly what he thinks of hunting. Rainsford does not understand that the animals he hunts are like the people that Zaroff hunts. They are innocent, and he is murdering them when he hunts them. Rainsford thinks that Zaroff is insane for murdering people, but Rainsford is also a murderer. When Zaroff hunts Rainsford, the protagonist realizes the terror and pain the jaguars must have felt when he hunted them. Now the roles are reversed, and Rainsford is the one being hunted. “The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. The general was saving him for another day’s sport! Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror.” (17) Rainsford has changed his feelings about hunting animals now, and he has become a better person. He now takes into account how his prey feels. His interactions with people will also be different, because instead of being extremely overconfident, he realizes that he is not perfectly adept at hunting, and everyone has feelings that matter. In conclusion, Rainsford is now more humble and less overconfident than he was when he began his
When General Zaroff is first introduced in the story, it appears that he is a civilized person. It is not until you read farther into the story that you begin to see why he is quite the opposite. While having dinner with Rainsford, General Zaroff explains to him that, while he used to hunt big game animals, it had begun to bore him. None of the game provided a challenge to Zaroff anymore. He came up with another way to get the thrill of hunting, while finding something that would keep it interesting and challenging. Zaroff decided to hunt humans.
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, there are two main characters, Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff. The story starts off with Rainsford and Rainsford’s hunting partner, Whitney, on a yacht heading to Rio de Janiero to hunt big game animals. Rainsford ends up becoming trapped on Ship-Trap Island, and that is where he and the reader are introduced to General Zaroff. Unfortunately for Rainsford, General Zaroff is not your normal General. General Zaroff and Rainsford are similar and different in many ways, and even though Rainsford believes that Zaroff is a sick individual, at the end of the story he becomes more like Zaroff than he realizes.
We are introduced to the protagonist and main character, Sanger Rainsford who is a big game hunter and a WW1 veteran. The story starts off with a conversation between Whitney and Rainsford discussing the island, so we can understand the reputation it holds.
When Rainsford falls off of the boat, he has to try his best to stay afloat until he can find something to latch on to. He swims vigorously until he reaches Ship-Trap Island. "Jagged crags appeared to jut up into the opaqueness... dense jungle came down to the very edge of the cliffs." It is midday and he is just searching for a place to rest when he runs into Ivan, the astonishingly large guard of the island. Zaroff, the owner of the island, joins in on their conversation about hunting. The conversation is interesting to say the least. Zaroff says, "You'll find this game worth playing…your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! And the stake is not without value, eh?" Zaroff is trying to point out that he finds interest in hunting humans, and he wants to know if Rainsford will rise to the challenge. Rainsford is left with a choice to make; will he fight Zaroff, or will he decline and get killed by Ivan. The choice in this situation is pretty self- evident.
“Rainsford did not smile, I am still a beast at bay,” he said, in a low hoarse voice. “Get ready, General Zaroff.” The General made one of his deepest bows. “I see, splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On Guard. Rainsford…” [page 76]
Rainsford overcomes many obstacles, and in return he receives that special feeling of satisfaction in his body. To start, he overcomes the thought of him being weak. Furthermore, he conquers learning the value of even an animal’s life. Not to mention, he defeats becoming the hunted, when he is the hunter. In the short story Sanger Rainsford outwits General Zaroff in the battle of “The Most Dangerous
He uses his prior knowledge to attempt to outwit his opponent. He tries a plethora of tactics in order to survive. Finally, he comes to a solution. “Twenty feet below him the sea rumbled and hissed. Rainsford hesitated. He heard the hounds. Then he leapt far out into the see…” (Connell 80). It is Rainsford’s superior judgment that allows him to swim back to Zaroff’s house and hide in the bedroom curtains. Eventually, Rainsford succeeds in his fight for survival. “I see,” he said. “Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford….” (Connell 80). At last, Rainsford wins. “He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided,” (Connell 80). Had Rainsford not thought deeply about his actions, he could be dead. It is Rainsford’s true courage and wits that allow him to withstand the worst and live in the
In the game, General Zaroff arms everyone on that crew with a knife and a pack of food and each and gives them a three-hour head start. When three hours has passed, General Zaroff hunts them down with a pistol of the smallest bullet size and range, and if someone who is being hunted stays alive for three days, they win. If a person who is supposed to be hunted refuses to play, they are whipped. If they are close to winning, General Zaroff brings out his pack of vicious and ruthless dogs, and because of the general’s unfair method of this cruel game, he has not lost one game after playing this for countless years. When General Zaroff explains to Rainsford that he will hunt again the next day and he wants Rainsford to hunt alongside him, Rainsford cannot bring himself to participate. Since Rainsford is not hunting, he ends up being hunted, and he wins. This short story applies to the first interpretation of “Character is what you are in the
Rainsford is an intelligent man. Early in the story, “Rainsford remembered the shots. They had come from the right, and he doggedly swam in that direction” (34). Rainsford had just fallen in the water, swam fifty feet further out, but he kept his senses in the right direction. In total darkness, Rainsford used his intelligence and intellect to reach the land. Also, I don’t think that Rainsford knew he was being sized up when Zaroff was staring at him, but when “Rainsford’s bewilderment showed in his face” (100), he quickly understood what Zaroff was leading too. Rainsford wasn’t a murderer. Sure he liked to hunt game, but he wasn’t bored as Zaroff was. Rainsford never bought into all the old tales. ‘“One superstitious sailor can taint the whole ship’s company with fear”’ (20). He never got worked up or stressed out.
General Zaroff first appears to be a handsome man past his middle age, but looks can be deceiving. When he smiles, it shows his pointed teeth. This is shown in the story when the author describes, “... said the general, and his smile showed red lips and pointed teeth…(Connel 23). Having pointed teeth isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s connotating that he’s evil because pop culture use attributes such as having pointed teeth or red eyes to show that someone is evil, and this is no exception. Not to mention that Rainsford, the protagonist of the story, decides to kill General Zaroff because he realizes that he’s a threat to everything around him. It’s inferred that Rainsford later kills Zaroff when Zaroff says, “One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford…’ He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided” (Conell 36). Although the fight is never written about, we can assume that there was a fight based off of the dialog and how time passes after the
G. Zaroff is untrustworthy because in the end after Rainfords has beaten him he still has to fight him. He shows this when Rainsford meets him in the bedroom the General says “I see, Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in a very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford…..” This means that he didn’t keep his promise of letting him go after three days and still made him fight.