When a person or a group of people are left to their own devices without the restraint and moral compassing of civilized society, they can quickly revert to a berserk animalistic state where nothing is off limits and it can be brutal. Rainsford experiences this idea first hand in the short story, ¨A Dangerous Game¨. In our world -- civilized and tame -- there is no ability to fathom how such a heinous act could be committed; hunting another human being for sport (Dashes & semicolon). It can only be in the isolated existence of a human, that their primal being can completely take over themselves and rationalize something so fundamentally wrong; not just murder, but murder for pleasure and sport. After falling overboard into the ocean, Rainsford swims to an apparently deserted island, where to his surprise, he discovers a contiguous mansion at the top of a bluff. Believing the giant house to be nothing but a mirage, he treks up the bluff to the chateau. When he knocks on the door, he is greeted by a stereotypical sidekick of a villain. The man's name is Ivan, an incredibly strong but deaf and dumb former member of the Russian special forces. Instead of welcoming Rainsford in, he points a revolver directly at his forehead. He lowers the revolver only when he hears his master making his way towards the pair of them. The man who greets Rainsford is not just a mountain of muscle like his adjunct companion, but an apparently civil nabob, General Zaroff. However, almost immediately the reader can sense the covert nature of this man, and that something is not quite right. ¨His eyes too, were black and very bright.¨ (quotation #1, pg. 72) As if the black eyes were not enough to characterize him as a predator, ¨...his smile showed red lips and pointed teeth.¨ (quotation #2, pg. 72) His pointed teeth alone are hints of his true nature, which Rainsford is unaware of at the time of their acquaintance. Zaroff and Rainsford proceed to sit down for dinner and begin to talk about hunting and their collective experiences. With terrifying calm and limpid explanation, General Zaroff soon reveals that he has a more dangerous animal that
…show more content…
The General is very much like an archetypal vampire; hunting his quarry only at night, possessing pointed teeth or fangs, and lacking any glimmer of humanity (semicolon, simile, CPS). Archetypal vampires take advantage of the weak, usually female. However in this story it can apply to anyone who is lost and alone on Zaroff’s island. Even how he acquires prey is fundamentally evil. He created a false harbor, where ships try and make landfall, but only come upon jagged boulders and are sunk, forcing its passengers to take refuge on the island where Zaroff takes advantage of them. He is no stranger to killing not just animals but humans; his elite military status took care of that. He has been isolated with no one to steer him in the way he should go, and is left to his own devices, making his own rules to govern himself. The guidelines he sets in place for himself transcend any normal human moral reasoning, but to him they are perfectly justifiable; he is unable to find any animal that can challenge his hunting abilities, so he turns to the only animal that can, comparing animals and humans with incredulous
The General is very much like an archetypal vampire; hunting his quarry only at night, possessing pointed teeth or fangs, and lacking any glimmer of humanity (semicolon, simile, CPS). Archetypal vampires take advantage of the weak, usually female. However in this story it can apply to anyone who is lost and alone on Zaroff’s island. Even how he acquires prey is fundamentally evil. He created a false harbor, where ships try and make landfall, but only come upon jagged boulders and are sunk, forcing its passengers to take refuge on the island where Zaroff takes advantage of them. He is no stranger to killing not just animals but humans; his elite military status took care of that. He has been isolated with no one to steer him in the way he should go, and is left to his own devices, making his own rules to govern himself. The guidelines he sets in place for himself transcend any normal human moral reasoning, but to him they are perfectly justifiable; he is unable to find any animal that can challenge his hunting abilities, so he turns to the only animal that can, comparing animals and humans with incredulous