The Most Dangerous Game

Written in 1924, Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” has achieved fame as a popular short story worldwide. The story is an iconic tale that questions the value of human life and offers a commentary on the morality of man and instinct versus reason. It has sparked numerous adaptations and inspired other pieces of fiction, from poems and novels to several films and TV series.

As the story opens, Sanger Rainsford, a game hunter, is on a yacht traveling to the Amazon to hunt the largest cat of the region—the jaguar. As they pass an island called Ship-Trap Island on a dark night, Rainsford and his friend Whitney stand on the ship deck and discuss the superstitions sailors hold about the mysterious Caribbean island. They also discuss their impending hunt, considering the effects of man on the animal kingdom and how the hunted animals must feel. They agree that they are lucky to be the hunters, not the hunted. After Whitney turns in, Rainsford hears gunshots as the boat passes the island shore, and upon shifting closer to investigate, he falls overboard. When he realizes that he cannot swim back to the boat, he decides to swim toward the island, where he washes up on shore and falls into a deep sleep.

Upon waking, Rainsford takes in the rough and wild jungle landscape. As he starts picking his way along the shore, he sees signs of a struggle—blood and crushed foliage—along with an empty .22 cartridge. He finds it odd that such a small caliber round would be used against what appears from the evidence to be a sizeable animal. Rainsford follows boot prints on the ground and eventually comes upon a large chateau high on a bluff.

Rainsford’s knock on the door is met by a large, black-bearded man named Ivan, pointing a revolver. He soon meets the chateau owner, General Zaroff, who instructs Ivan to stand down and explains Ivan is deaf and without speech. Zaroff is also a big game hunter, and after Rainsford explains his situation, Zaroff gives him a large meal and a place to rest. Over an exceptionally delicious dinner, Zaroff and Rainsford have a long, engaging discussion about hunting and animals. However, amid his hospitality, Zaroff reveals that hunting began to bore him because it no longer held the challenges of wit it once had. He now hunts much bigger and more cunning game—the sailors whose ships crash into the island. He gives them food, rest, and survival training then sends them out into the jungle with some supplies and provisions. Then the hunt begins. Zaroff tells Rainsford that if a target can survive for three days without being killed by him, Zaroff will let him go—however, none of his past victims have lasted that long.

Rainsford is shocked and turns down Zaroff’s invitation to accompany him hunting that evening. Instead, Rainsford goes to bed but is so unsettled by Zaroff’s hobby that he cannot sleep. As dawn breaks, he hears the shot of a pistol in the distance and knows that Zaroff has killed the man he was hunting.

The next afternoon, Rainsford is informed that he will have a three-hour head start before Zaroff begins hunting him. If Zaroff has not killed him by midnight of the third day, he promises to take Rainsford by boat to the mainland. On the first day, Rainsford creates a confusing trail for Zaroff and eventually climbs a tree. However, Zaroff finds him quickly and taunts him by smoking a cigarette at the base of the tree and sparing him on purpose to prolong the hunt for his own entertainment. The general then goes home to prepare for a more serious fight the next day. On day two, Rainsford fashions a “man-catcher” trap, which Zaroff triggers as he steps on it unknowingly, getting hit in the shoulder and going home injured to rest for the final day. He is pleased with Rainsford’s ingenuity and again chooses to spare Rainsford’s life to keep the hunt going. On the third day, Zaroff brings his pack of hunting dogs. Rainsford shows additional wit and skill by creating other traps—firstly, a hole in the ground that captures and kills one of Zaroff’s dogs, then a knife trap that kills Ivan.

As the chase intensifies, Rainsford jumps off a cliff into the sea. Zaroff investigates and deduces that Rainsford is dead. He is disappointed that Rainsford would end the game by committing suicide. The general returns home and goes up to his bedroom, locking the door behind him; however, Rainsford is there, hiding in plain sight. Rainsford reveals that he swam around to the other side of the island, snuck into the chateau, and climbed up to Zaroff’s bedroom.

Zaroff is impressed with Rainsford, exclaiming that he won the game. However, Rainsford does not take it so lightly—he intends to fight Zaroff to the death. The story ends with the line, “He’d never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided” (15), implying that Rainsford has killed Zaroff.