The Most Dangerous Game Themes
Competition
“The Most Dangerous Game” doesn’t send you scrambling to diagram its complex plot. But don’t be fooled. This is a story about hunting, but there is more to this struggle than meets the eye....
Violence
The violence in “The Most Dangerous Game” is not just physical—it’s psychological. Connell sets up the dilemma from the get-go whether hunting is a brutal activity or an amusing sport. Deci...
Perseverance
Rainsford is nothing if not a survivor. Throughout all of “The Most Dangerous Game,” he just does not give up. When he falls off the yacht, he manages to get himself safely to the rocky shore....
Strength and Skill
Zaroff loves hunting, but it’s just become too easy. It can’t just be about strength anymore; his prey must have reason and skill, be shrewd and cunning, as smart as—or smarter than—he is....
Man and the Natural World
We’re thinking it’s more like man vs. the natural world in “The Most Dangerous Game.” After all, our main characters, Rainsford and Zaroff, basically see the natural world as something to b...
Fear
When it comes to fear, Rainsford’s character undergoes a pretty dramatic transformation in a short amount of time. He begins by basically dismissing the possibility that animals have the capacity...