Previous
Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Rainsford's Return:
In the closing moments of "The Most Dangerous Game," Rainsford throws himself into the sea rather than be caught by Zaroff on the hunt. While Zaroff suspects Rainsford to be dead and expresses some annoyance at his "quarry" thus evading him, the reader knows what Zaroff does not: Rainsford, per the opening sequence of the tale, is an excellent swimmer. Thus, as the story draws to a close and the narrative slows to a description of Zaroff's bedtime routine, it is only the reader who can suspect Rainsford's return:
There was a little moonlight, so, before turning on his light, he went to the window and looked down at the courtyard. He could see the great hounds, and he called, "Better luck another time," to them. then he switched on the light. A man, who had been hiding in the curtains of the bed, was standing there.
When the light turns on and a man emerges from the bedroom, the reader knows before Zaroff that Rainsford has come to get his revenge. This moment is an example of dramatic irony, as the reader is positioned to understand more about the situation than Zaroff himself in the story.
Explanation and Analysis—Zaroff's Civility:
Throughout "The Most Dangerous Game," General Zaroff attempts to position himself as a highly civilized person despite the obvious barbarity of his behavior on the island as a hunter and murderer of human beings. This is trait is on full display as he demonstrates his ship-trap mechanism to Rainsford, and the contrast between who he is and who he presents himself to be creates situational irony:
[F]ar out to sea Rainsford saw the flash of lights.
The general chuckled. “They indicate a channel,” he said, “where there’s none; giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws. They can crush a ship as easily as I crush this nut.” He dropped a walnut on the hardwood floor and brought his heel grinding down on it. “Oh yes,” he said, casually, as if in answer to a question, “I have electricity. We try to be civilized here.”
This is an example of situational irony because Zaroff is presenting his most brutal device for capturing unsuspecting sailors and bringing them to his island—the last thing a reader might expect in this moment is for Zaroff to declare the civilized nature of the island. Yet, even as Zaroff finishes his horrible description, he changes the subject to underscore his own "refinement": at least there is electricity.
Related Themes:
