The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell: Analysis of The Characters of Rainsford and Zaroff

The story that shocks me is “the Most Dangerous Game”. Mankind can do anything. The short story by Richard Connell “The Most Dangerous Game” explores the possibility of what a human race can do to achieve their goals. In this story, Rainsford and Zaroff are the big game hunters. Rainsford is all about hunting, killing, and he gets trap on an island. Both characters are emotionless; they do not care about what the animal feels. “Who cares how a jaguar feels?”.

Connell uses the characterization of Zaroff and character development of Rainford to prove what human can do. Zaroff is a man who likes to hunt big game. It does not matter if he loses his life hunting big game. I got interested in hunting at a young age when his father got him a gun. From that day he starts to build his skill in hunting, and he is a very talented and accomplished hunter. In the being when Zaroff is introduced, it looks like he is a very calm and intellectual person. He is the man who was worldly experiences, knowledge and has a very good taste of fashion. He loves a reading book about hunting and he has a rich feeling about China.

As the story progress, the author reveals that he is so fanatic about hunting that he starts to lose his interest, and he decides to hunt human. He becomes cold-blooded and calculative that he forgets the value of human life. This is only because he was getting bored and the animal that he was hunting could not reason. He is the individual that have no empathy for the people that comes to his Island. “It supplies me with the exciting hunting in the world. No other hunting compares with it for an instant. Every day I hunt, and I never grow bored now, for I have a quarry with which I can match my wits.”

Rainford is a very intelligent and intellectual person. He is also the individual who does not care what an animal feels. Rainsford is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes. He transforms from no feeling for the animals to care about animals, human life and their values. As Rainford hears that Zaroff huntsman, he tries to tell him that what he is doing is not hunting it is murdering a human. He declines the offer of hunting human with Zaroff because he can differentiate what is right and what is wrong. Then Rainsford becomes the victim of Zaroff’s hunting game. He is very clever, he tries many tricks on Zaroff to lead him in the wrong direction and takes various measures to play safe. He is also the person who has many skills and real-life experiences to win the game. “I am still a beast at bay”.