The Most Dangerous Game Analysis

“The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell, is a narrative about Mr. Sanger Rainsford, a celebrated hunter, who finds himself on a secluded island after falling overboard a yacht. Rainsford locates a large building on the island and meets General Zaroff, who invites him to rest and replenish his health in his home. After Zaroff explains that he also enjoys hunting, he also reveals that he has discovered a new, more dangerous animal to hunt: humans. Zaroff forces Rainsford to become the hunted in order to win his freedom and return to the mainland. Connell’s central idea suggests that instinct does not always yield to reason. Connell’s central idea develops through the dynamic characterization of Rainsford, “Rainsford did not smile. ‘I am still a beast at bay,’ he said, in a low, hoarse voice” (Connell 314). At the beginning of the story, Rainsford reasons with his hunting partner that animals are
The obvious conflict to the reader is the external conflict of man versus man. Zaroff determined to prove his skill as a hunter hunts Rainsford, while Rainsford fights against Zaroff to stay alive. Likewise, Rainsford and Zaroff also differ from the other in terms of their ideology, where Zaroff believes that hunting humans for sport is natural, and Rainsford disagrees. The subtle external conflict is the conflict of man versus nature, where Rainsford must battle against the conditions of the jungle to elude Zaroff. In addition to the external conflicts, Connell also includes the internal conflict of man versus himself in this story with Rainsford. Rainsford has the difficulty to make himself continue on in the hunt while in a state of fear and fighting in the external conflict of the jungle around him. In the resolution of the main conflict, Rainsford exemplifies Connell’s central idea in that he kills Zaroff out of a survival instinct and not from a standpoint of