René Descartes once said: "The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as the greatest virtues." This idea rings true in Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game." First published in 1924, this tale follows Sanger Rainsford, a hunter from New York City, on a ship from America to Rio de Janeiro. In the middle of the Caribbean Sea, Rainsford falls into the sea and hastily swims to a nearby island. He stumbles upon another hunter's mansion on the island and soon discovers that this hunter is more dangerous than he ever imagined. Rainsford finds himself in grave danger and must outsmart General Zaroff, the Hunter, to survive. Using the techniques he had learned hunting, Rainsford escapes Zaroff and his persecutor is fed to the hounds. Rainsford returns to the mansion, ridding himself of Zaroff. This essay will argue that Rainsford does not remain on Ship Trap Island and that the events that occurred there convince him to give up the hunt. Throughout the story, it is painfully obvious that Rainsford has no respect for the animals he hunts. At the beginning of "The Most Dangerous Game," Sanger Rainsford is standing on the deck of a ship philosophizing with a fellow hunter named Whitney. Whitney says, “I rather think they [jaguars] understand one thing: fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death” (1). Rainsford responds: “The world is made up of two classes: the hunters and the hunters. Luckily, you and I are hunters” (1). Sanger Rainsford thus demonstrates that he does not understand the fear of being hunted. This belief leads him to believe that hunting is a beautiful sport and that he does not need to consider the sensations of the game he hunts. Later in the story, however, Rainsford's feelings contradict this idea. As Sanger Rainsford is pursued by General Zaroff, he begins to experience the terror of being hunted. Connell writes: The general was playing with him! The general was saving it for another day of sport! The Cossack was the cat; it was the mouse. It was then that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror. (14) Now that he sees that his life is in certain danger, he begins using traps to outwit General Zaroff. Starting to feel like playing too, Rainsford believes his mind is his only way out. He must realize, then, that the animals he hunts do not have this defense, making hunting as a sport far more inhumane than he ever thought possible...