The Most Dangerous Game

• Setting :

  • on board a yacht
  • Ship Trap Island
  • Zaroff's mansion
• Time :

  • early in the 20th century
  • evening
• Social Conditions :

  • "Big game" hunting was a popular sport of the wealthy class. The danger and the thrill of the hunt was a part of its appeal.
• Mood/Atmosphere :

  • "dark & silent night illuminated only to be a sallow moon casting a wan light" reinforces Rainsford's isolation and desperation.
  • Name of the island: Ship Trap
  • All the references to darkness
  • The chase
• Exposition :

  • Rainsford is on a yacht bound for the Amazon talking with Whitney about "Ship-Trap" Island. We find out Rainsford is a big game hunter. Whitney talks about the "game".
• Initiating Event :

  • Rainford loses his balance and falls into the sea.
• Rising Action :

  • Rainsford gets stuck on Ship Trap Island
  • Rainsford meets the antagonist, Gen. Zaroff
  • Zaroff begins to hunt Rainsford
  • Rainsford's first attempt to trick Zaroff is to make a series of loops (ground footprints) to confuse his trail.
  • Rainsford leaps off of a cliff into the sea.
  • Zaroff thinks Rainsford is dead.
• Climax :

  • Rainsford confronts Zaroff in his bedroom.
• Falling Action :

  • Rainsford & Zaroff fight.
• Resolution :

  • Rainsford kills Zaroff.
• Internal Conflict :

  • Rainsford needs to stay calm and think of ways to win the game.
• External Conflict :

  • Man vs. Man - Rainsford & Whitney; both disagree about whether or not the animals they hunt sense fear. Rainsford feels that it's immoral to hunt humans whereas Zaroff thinks it's a sport. During the hunt, Rainsford is trying to survive by tricking Zaroff (builds suspense). Whitney believes the sailors' fears about Ship Trap Island have merit whereas Rainsford thinks they are superstition.
  • Man vs. Nature - Rainsford as he struggles to swim to shore (struggling against the sea); Rainsford as he tries to survive during the hunt in the jungle.
• Protagonist/Round/Dynamic : Rainsford

  • Hunter - Believes that animals don't feel any fear; Once he is hunted and feels the fear he says he knows how animals feel.
  • Clever - During the hunt, Rainsford is trying to survive by tricking Zaroff.
  • At the end, when he confronts Zaroff, Rainsford tells Zaroff that he is a "beast at bay" (He has adopted an animal mentality).
• Antagonist/Flat/Static : Zaroff

  • Intelligent & civil
  • Good hunter
  • Evil/Animalistic - Thick black eyebrows and pointed black moustache; dead black eyes; curious, red-lipped smile
• POV :

  • 3rd Person Limited
• Theme :

  • Morality of hunting
  • In order to fully understand others, we must first walk in their shoes.
• Symbolism :

  • The Jungle - wild & ungovernable, the jungle serves as a powerful symbol of Zaroff's tangled psyche and the chaos within the island.
  • The Island - Ship Trap Island symbolizes lawlessness. Gen. Zaroff's plays out his homicidal whims unchecked, unimpeded, and a world apart from Rainsford's comfortable life of privilege and ease. The island is an anti-utopian (Bad/frightening community) society under the rule of a tyrant seeking to exterminate other people.