Abstract Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game has thrilled readers since its first publication. It is a short story about two men’s transformation of hunter-prey role, with well-knitted plot, deep-carved characters, suspense, symbols, ironies, etc. Beyond its complicated form, it also conveys far-reaching social and cultural values. This game turns into a chase of competition and of survival. It shows us the large amount of danger and evil in human nature, which needs the whole society to consider deeper about the original humanity, and manages to expose weighty issues of war, ecology, and especially human nature that remain relevant today. It is a glimpse inside the darker nature of man, classically written with a twist of romance. Therefore, the motivation of this thesis is to make a preliminary analysis of the evil nature the characters in this story have. 57605

This paper is an attempt to appreciate the story inside, the parallels and contrasts in its structure and the unique shifts and gaps in its narration are highlighted to explore the tradition of the superiority of men’s reason which originated of the evil nature thought in western culture and the influence it has brought to the world and to the people concerned. In this paper, the contrasts between Rainsford and Zaroff——the contrasts between hunter and huntee, will be explored in a softly-softly approach and the evil of human nature will be discussed at full length. The paper falls into five parts. The first part serves as an introduction. The second part is taken as the literature review, focusing on the development of the western evil thought related to my study. The third part aims at probing into the characters’ disposition and discussing their interest confliction. The fourth part analyses the evil nature thought’s influence in the whole western society. The fifth part functions as a conclusion.

Key Words: Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game, evil human nature, humanity

 摘要理查德•康奈尔的《最危险的游戏》自它发行以来就深深地震慑着广大读者。这个短篇小说围绕着两个男人彼此从猎人到猎物的身份转变而展开。《最危险的游戏》是一个经过高度揣摩推敲的短篇小说，它拥有细心编织的情节，深雕的人物、悬念、象征、反讽等。除开它小说体系的复杂形式之外，它同样传达出意义深远的社会和文化价值观。这场狩猎变成了一次关于竞争和生存的追逐。它向我们展示了人类本性中的大量的危险与邪恶，这需要全社会更深入地思考人类的本性。同样也成功地揭露战争的重大问题，生态，特别是人类的天性，这一点直至今天仍然适用。这是对人性的黑暗的一个暗示，通过一种略微扭曲的浪漫笔调而书写而成。因此，本文试图通过这一故事中的人物来进行他们人性的初步分析。

本文试图通过对故事的理解，对其结构的相似性和对比性，突出其叙事中的独特性和差异性，探索西方文化中基于人性恶论的理性优越性的传统，并研讨其带给世界和人们的影响。在本文中，一种Rainsford与Zaroff——猎人和猎物之间的反差对比，将会通过细致的方式进行探讨，同样人性恶的本质也会被详尽地予以讨论。本论文将分为五大部分。第一部分作为介绍。第二部分作为文献综述，聚焦于与我研究相关的西方性恶论发展史。第三部分致力于探讨小说主人公的心理，以及讨论他们二者之间的利益冲突。第四部分将研究西方性恶论对于整个西方社会的影响。第五部分则是总结。

毕业论文关键词：理查德•康奈尔, 最危险的游戏, 罪恶, 人性

 CONTENTS

Acknowledgments i

Abstract ii

摘要