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 well-lit, 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. 

 Ivan: 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.


Captain of the yacht taking Rainsford
Neilsen:
and Whitney to Brazil. He is referred to but
plays no active role in the story.

 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 tough-minded 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.