Rainsford's Flaws In The Most Dangerous Game

Rainsford runs into a problem after meeting Zaroff, and plays a game of life or death against him. The Most Dangerous Game, written by Richard Connel is a short story. Rainsford lands on an island where he meets a hunter called Zaroff. Zaroff was hunting since he was a little boy, and he enjoys it greatly. Zaroff insists that to Rainsford that he should go hunting with him. Rainsford has no choice, but to accept. Soon after, Rainsford realizes that this game is a battle for life and death. The antagonist, Zaroff is a very overconfident character, which leads to a series of bad choices. Zaroff has 3 major flaws in the story that helps Rainsford win the game. Firstly, Zaroff procrastinates over killing Rainsford, and ends up never getting the job done. Also, he believes …show more content…
This is shown when Rainsford creates a variety of traps to try to kill Zaroff, his dogs, and Ivan. “Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my best dogs. Again you score. I think, Mr. Rainsford, I’ll see what you can do against my whole pack. I’m going home for a rest now. Thank you for a most amusing evening” (Connel 8). After this, Rainsford is awakened by the pack of hounds. He manages to create a quick trap with his hunting knife and a springy young sapling. The trap was made to kill Zaroff, but it claims Ivan. Rainsford continues to run for his life. By underestimating Rainsford, he was able to harm Zaroff, kill Ivan, and kill one of Zaroff’s “best dogs”. Zaroff did not expect all the traps that Rainsford had created. Evidently shown when Zaroff had to dodge the “Malay man-catcher”. In the story, Rainsford created 3 traps: “Malay man-catcher”, “Burmese tiger pit”, and the trap he learned from Uganda, with the hunting knife and sapling. By underestimating Rainsford, it lets him create a variety of traps to help him win the game. Since Zaroff underestimated Rainsford, it gave Rainsford enough time to kill