Kevin Nguyen

Ms.Price

Honors English 1

May 25, 2018

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Individuals in society or literature like General Zaroff in “The Most Dangerous Game”,

can display certain symptoms of disorders such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder.​ ​Individuals

with Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD often have a feeling that they are superior, they

exploit others, and are arrogant (Steve, “NPD”). These individuals exploit others by abusing

them through their interactions with others. When these individuals exhibit arrogance through

their interactions or communications, they have a feeling of self-pride. These individuals also

express superiority through their habits or quirks by showing they are much more skillful. In

“The Most Dangerous Game”, General Zaroff has many symptoms like the exploitation of

others, acting more superior than others and the arrogance when he speaks, through his habit and

through his tone.

General Zaroff has shown NPD through his communications, which shows symptoms

like exploitation and arrogance. One of the symptoms of this disorder can be seen when he says,

“That is why I use them. It gives me pleasure. They can reason, after a fashion. So they are

dangerous” (Connel). This quote shows that General Zaroff has said he manipulates some type

of animal, which is humans to hunt. This manipulation of other humans by General Zaroff shows

NPD because exploitation is one of the symptoms of this disorder. He shows another symptom of

this disorder, which is arrogance when he says, “How extraordinary droll you are!’ He said.
“One does not expect nowadays to find a young man of the educated class, even in America,

with such a naive, and, if I may say so, mid Victorian point of view.” (Connel). This quote shows

a symptom of NPD because of the tone in the word used when he was speaking to Rainsford.

The tone of General Zaroff showed arrogance when he was speaking to Rainsford, which shows

the symptom of arrogance in NPD. To conclude, General Zaroff expresses certain signs of NPD

such as self-pride and manipulation when he communicates with others.

General Zaroff has shown NPD symptoms through his quirks and personality. The

symptoms of this disorder can be seen when he says, “No animal had a chance with me anymore.

That is no boast” (Connel). This quote shows the symptom of arrogance of Narcissistic

Personality Disorder. Since this shows his personality that he is very skilful, by saying no

animals can survive him in his hunting, it shows this disorders symptom of self-pride. The belief

one is superior can be seen when General Zaroff’s quirk is walking away to give Rainsford a

chance and knows that he would win anyway (Connel). This habit of his shows a sign of one of

the symptoms of this disorder which is superiority. He shows he feels superior about himself, by

giving rainsford a chance because he knows he is superior than him and can easily defeat him.

To conclude, General Zaroff expresses NPD through his customs such as showing he is more

skillful and his nature of arrogance.

Despite the evidence for NPD, many people believe he has Schizophrenia, but they fail to

see he has many symptoms like exploitation of others and arrogance that shows he has NPD.

Those who believe he has Schizophrenia think this because he is isolated on an island, which

shows the Schizophrenia’s symptom of Isolation (Mayo Clinic). Without contact with the outside

world, this leads to people believing he has a symptom of Schizophrenia. Although aspects of
this argument are enticing, it ultimately fails to be a stronger argument because Schizophrenia

also includes the decrease in activity, but General Zaroff does not have this symptom and this

also includes many more symptoms of Schizophrenia, like hallucination. General Zaroff has

more symptoms that shows he has this disorder than Schizophrenia. In conclusion, though

General Zaroff lives alone isolated on the island, he has shown many more symptoms that

correlate with this disorder. He does not have as many symptoms of Schizophrenia than NPD

such as exploitation of others or arrogance towards another.

In “The Most Dangerous Game”, General Zaroff has shown many symptoms that has

correlated with NPD such as his self-pride, his abuse of others and that he acts better than others

through his hunting. Through General Zaroff’s interactions, the way he speaks, his habits and

personality, he expresses many signs that he has this disorder. With many of these symptoms he

shows of NPD, it is best to connect this disorder with General Zaroff. In conclusion, General

Zaroff has shown many of the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder through his

communications, quirks and tone that he is much more skilled, his oppression of others, and his

self-pride.
 Works Cited

“Schizophrenia.” ​Mayo Clinic​, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research,

10 Apr. 2018

Connell, Richard. ​The Most Dangerous Game​. Elements of Literature, Houghton

Mufflin Harcourt, 2005

Bressert, Steve. “Narcissistic Personality Disorder.” ​Psych Central​, n.d.