Rainsford’s Justification
Yes, Rainsford was justified in killing Zaroff. For example, Rainsford and Zaroff were having a conversation about what general Zaroff has hunted and Rainsford exclaims, “‘Hunting? Great Guns, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder!’” (Connell 5). This shows that Zaroff is a mass murderer and Rainsford thinks that what he has done is a critically bad thing, which means Zaroff deserved death. As a general rule, if someone is a mass murderer they will probably be punished in a fashion of death if the law found out. After all, when Rainsford was hiding he, “knew [Zaroff] was coming; he heard the padding sound of feet on the soft earth, and the night breeze brought him the perfume of the general’s cigarette” (Connell