“The Most Dangerous Game” is an adventurous tale about two hunters who are against each other in a life or death competition. Author Richard Connell mainly uses a list of literary devices to raise questions about the nature of violence and cruelty of hunting for sport. One device he uses in “The Most Dangerous Game” is irony. The story consists of situational irony and verbal irony.
Situational irony is involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended. The situational irony in the story is when Rainsford is being cast away on the island owned by Zaroff, a world-class hunter who has become obsessed with hunting humans. The general states, “I give him his option, of course. He need not play the game