Rainsford Argumentative Essay

Sanger Rainsford, a millionaire hunter on trial for the alleged murder of General Zaroff, has stated that he, along with many Spanish sailors, were “held captive in this island, kept in constant fear, worrying about being found, and most likely dying. The general kept on telling me [Rainsford] these stories about how no sailor survived his game. It was like I was just the next person in line to be killed by some superior being, like an animal at a slaughterhouse.” So far, the general public have been very sympathetic towards Rainsford because of his experience being held captive on Ship-Trap island. However, I believe that Rainsford should be charged with murder. He had many options to escape from the island, such as taking the General’s yacht, or talking to the general about winning his game. Rainsford also tried to kill the general many times, including when he created a tiger trap, or a knife trap, designed to specifically kill the general. These actions sound very much like first degree murder to me, even if you take into account the situation he was in.
Even though the general supposedly did capture and hunt down his captives, Rainsford should have dealt with him better. For the most part, the court decisions on these kill or be killed cases mostly comes up to the decision of the jury, or even the race of the defendant; for example, the murder trial of Odell Waller, an African American sharecropper found guilty by an all white jury, or the similar trial of Winnie Ruth Judd, an accountant, placed in a mental facility. We are currently awaiting the trial verdict of Rainsford’s