The Most Dangerous Game Analysis

The Most Dangerous Game: Hunters and the Hunted

Richard Connell’s short story, The Most Dangerous Game is about a famous hunter named Rainsford who falls off of a yacht and ends up on an island called Ship-Trap Island. Later, Rainsford encounters another man named; General Zaroff who he later finds out likes to hunt humans, as he became bored hunting animals. Zaroff later announces to Rainsford, that he is the next player for his hunting game, and so Zaroff tells Rainsford that he is going to hunt him, and if Rainsford survives for 3 days without being killed, he can leave the island. Throughout this short story there is a continuous theme about the two classes of people in the world, the hunters and the hunted. General Zaroff as well as Rainsford find themselves apart of these roles during alternate times, as the hunting game progresses. Thus, in this short story, Connell portrays the idea that there are two classes of people in the world, the hunters and the hunted, in relation to Rainsford and Zaroff, through the use of foreshadowing.

At the beginning of this short story, on the yacht, Rainsford states to his friend Whitney, “The world is made up of two classes-the hunters and the hunted.” (Connell 40). This quotation sets a path for the rest of the story, as almost everything from this story reflects upon this idea. From Rainsford’s point of view his life is all about hunting. He has only stood on the side of a hunter, and he observes everything else as the hunted, which is a very narrow interpretation of the world. This is ironic, as he becomes the hunted while playing the dangerous game with General Zaroff, which he was not expecting. This quotation also foreshadows that there is going to be a dangerous game/a hunt, which ...

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...ht that Rainsford was already dead, until he saw him behind the curtains of his bedroom. Zaroff then states, “One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed.” (Connell 58) The story then ends with Rainsford deciding that he has never slept in a better bed. Thus, the reader can infer that Zaroff was sent to furnish a repast for the hounds.

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By the end of the story Zaroff and Rainsford have experienced the role of the hunted, which they would have both never expected, as they were always so used to being in power, as the hunter. The use of foreshadowing helps to predict the results that will occur, so that the ending is not so surprising or confusing for the reader.