The
Most Dangerous Game … Humanity in a Trap!
By
Dina
Nabil
To
"the Ship-Trap" island, Richard Connell takes the reader in a journey
through his remarkable story "The Most Dangerous Game" to make
a close spot over human psyche when it is transmuted from humanity to
brutality. Connell creates a remote island to test slogans about basic human
rights raised by the civilized world, the right of survival with dignity and freedom
without being trapped by massive powers that could destroy the weak any moment.
The story in itself is a trap for the reader, as a human being, since it provokes
a critical question; what would a man do if he is away from the watching eye of
cultivation?, would he behave according to ethics as a human being, or would
turn into a beast resorting to the jungle law. In the fifth edition of his "On the Origin
of Species", Charles Darwin uses Herbert Spencer's, a British
philosopher, coined phrase "the survival of the fittest", which is
not monopolized in biology, but as well as in morality. This phrase undermines
moral standards by letting the strong's hand over the weak's neck, especially
in societies that do not respect human rights; thus it produces two types of
classes, if it ought to be said, predators and preys. The story focuses on the everlasting
quarrel between the strong and the weak, including a person- against- person, a
person- against – nature conflicts, or between two fighting desires within man
himself. Therefore, the writer employs several devices, setting wise and
character wise, to drag the reader's attention to his real identity away from
the law; whether he is a human or a beast.
As the
story begins, two characters, big-game hunters, are introduced to represent two
different forces, instinct and reason; which were wrongly thought to be separate,
though they complement each other. Plato has long ago painted a picture of a
Charioteer driving a chariot pulled by two winged horses. This allegory
symbolizes the exact notion; the Charioteer is the human soul driving the two
horses, one stands for reason and rational impulse, while the other embodies irrational
passions and human instinct. In the story, Rainsford, the protagonist, represents
reason and methodical way of thinking as it will appear later on. On the other
side, Whitney stands for human intuition. Despite their differences, they
complement each other, as Plato has stated; they are on the board of the same
yacht going to the same direction, Rio
de Janeiro. As the ship moves forward, the writer
provides the reader with some clues to help him predicting the coming incidents
to supply him with necessary pleasure and interest. While the yacht draws on in
the Caribbean Sea, it passes through "the
Ship-Trap" island, the narrative setting of the story, about which Whitney
says:" A suggestive name. Isn't it?, sailors have a curious dread of the
place. I don't know why. Some superstition-", but Rainsford could not see
it due to the thick tropical night blackness, he says:" Ugh! It's like
moist black velvet", and consequently, does not believe in such a thing.
The writer arouses suspense around the island through the horror atmosphere
dominating the first scene, not only through the silence and blackness, besides
the difficult weather of the Caribbean, but
also through the crew's instinctive fear, as Whitney says:" Didn't you
notice that the crew's nerves seemed a bit jumpy today? … This place has an
evil name among seafaring men, sir … Don't feel anything? - as if the air about
us was actually poisonous." Nonetheless, Rainsford does not believe in
this and thinks it is not more than pure imagination or superstition.
Approaching in the Caribbean implies moving in darkness, and the island
signifies its heart; the heart of darkness. This inspiration corresponds Joseph
Conrad's great novel "Heart of Darkness", which not only does
indicate the darkness of African jungles, but also the dark depths of human psyche
and evil desires concealed beyond glamorous insincere declarations of
civilization. Therefore, the dialogue between Rainsford and Whitney immediately
twists to tackle the conception of hunting and human superiority, which grants them
the right to play with animals regardless their instinctive fear. Rainsford does not realize the danger of his
speech:" The world is made up of two classes- the hunters and the huntees.
Luckily, you and I are hunters", which foreshadows the dominant conflict
in the story between the strong and the weak.
As Whitney turns in the yacht,
Rainsford gets startled by three gun shots, he starred at the direction of the
sound but saw nothing. He moved quickly towards the rail and leaped on it, his
pipe knocked out from his mouth, as he tried to fetch it, he lost balance and
fell in the "blood-warm waters of the Caribbean Sea".
Incidents get complicated as conflicts come to the scene; though Rainsford
seemed from the exposition of the story as a strong self-controlling man, but
now he loses his nerve control particularly after the yacht has raced until it
vanishes. Rainsford became alone face to face with the sea, he called an
'enemy'. This 'a person-against-nature' conflict is the first embodiment of
'hunters verses huntees' conflict; nevertheless, Rainsford, this time, is ironically
the prey, of the sea, the hunter, and its species. Not to mention, this
conflict converts 'the blackness' from a seen force into a fighting tangible
one which drowns and vacuums through various weapons, the salt water which made
Rainsford gag and strangle, the heavy worm strong waves, and the rocky shore
which may scatter whatever is pushed to it. Rainsford's attempts for survival
never cease, even in his methodical approach, as it previously mentioned,
reason and instinct cooperate to rescue the human soul; he looks for food by
tracing track of shots, the crushed jungle weeds, a crimson patch, hunting
boots prints and an empty cartridge.
The writer uses horror devices;
the night, opaque blackness, loneliness, gun shots, and screaming, side by side
with Gothic atmosphere which appears in the only building on the island, the
chateau; the "heart" is the chateau, of "darkness" i.e. the
island. The chateau is designed according to the medieval architecture "
with pointed towers plunging upward into the gloom", three sides of which
are dived down into the sea. All features of civilization are found in the
chateau, unlike the deserted island. This takes the reader to the difference
between two similar journeys, here and in "Robinson Crusoe". The
protagonist, in "Robinson Crusoe" moves from cultivation,
England, to savagery, an anonymous island of cannibals, on the contrary,
Rainsford in "The Most Dangerous Game" moves from civilization
to much more civilization but black evil lies in deep depths of its
inhabitants, General Zaroff and his servant Ivan, Cossacks from southern
Russia. There are overlapped circles of blackness; Zaroff's blackness
corresponds the blackness of the sea; his black eyes, thick eyebrows, dark
face, and pointed military mustache are as "black as the night from which Rainsford
had come". This similarity between Zaroff and the sea foretells the
'hunters verses huntees' conflict. General Zaroff recalls his memories about
the sport of life, hunting; he hunted all types of animals around the world,
but he got bored of it, for "the animal had nothing but his legs and his
instinct. Instinct is no match for reason". Consequently, he had to create
a new animal equal to him in reason and cognition; hence, he went through the
most dangerous game, human beings hunting.
Sadistic Zaroff seems like a god,
to whom all powers yield, the black terrible sea that drives sailors' ships to
the rocky shore so as to wreck their ships, Zaroff says:" razor edges
crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws", and uses electricity to
drag the sailors to his château. Even the island was perfect for his purpose,
because "there are jungles with a maze of trails in them, hills,
swaps-". Therefore, Zaroff represents the dilemma between civilization and
brutality; what civilization really means, whether it is electricity, a massive
castle, lavish dinner and captivating garments or the mid-Victorian Puritan
thoughts about human respect. That is why; Zaroff is an archetype of the
post-World War1 change of standards about everything, especially the quarrel
between the strong and the weak.
Zaroff's sadistic lust has no limits; therefore, Rainsford is chosen as
the next prey after naïve sailors have proved their failure as hunting
satisfaction.
For the second time, Rainsford
becomes a huntee; he is given three nights to hide in the jungle and free himself
unless the General finds him. At the first night, Rainsford made up a doubled
trail to perplex the General and hid himself upon a lofty tree, but the expert
Zaroff discovered his place; however, he did not wish to end the game so fast
that he could save his prey for another day's sport. Suspense rises up more and
more, as the protagonist's fear and instinct work hand in hand with his reason
to surmount Zaroff's experience; thus Rainsford experiences the prey's fear, as
he "lived a year in a minute". At the second night, Rainsford made up
a tree trap, but Zaroff had only his shoulder harmed. At the last night, he
made a trap beside the Death
Swamp which caught one of
the hounds, and killed Ivan by fixing his pointed knife in a tree. Rainsford is
then trapped between two fighting motivations within himself, either to wait
for his death in the jungle or escape by finally reaching the sea shore. It is
easy to imagine how upset Zaroff is, after losing his sincere servant, Ivan and
his quarry escaped him.
The climactic moment in the story is when Zaroff unexpectedly finds
Rainsford at his bed room; though Zaroff proclaimed Rainsford's victory,
Rainsford insisted on finishing the game as a beast this time. The musical
chairs game or roles replacement appear at the falling out of the story, as
Rainsford is now an actual hunter whereas Zaroff is a huntee who surrenders to
his destiny as a repast to the hounds, while his opponent sleeps in his bed. It
could be a little bit bewildering why the writer makes the story open-ended, as
it is not easily presumed whether Rainsford learnt from this experience or not.
However, after his taste of fear as a prey he could cease hunting or at least
does it with respect. At last, roles replacement, in the conclusion of the
story, does not mean that Rainsford became another Zaroff, but it is a means to
put things in the right place. Rainsford puts an end to brutality and abuse
even though by killing; that is because, some solutions must be as cruel as the
wrong doing itself to end the whole matter.
