Analytical Essay: The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

The Most Dangerous Game Essay
Brody W. 1A Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game is a classic story about good vs. evil, hunter vs. hunted, etc. This story has a very suspenseful tone. Connell always keeps the reader on his toes. The set of main characters is very simple; a protagonist (Rainsford) and an antagonist (Zaroff). Although these characters are polar opposites, they are also very alike at the same time. Sanger Rainsford is an extremely cunning and intelligent hunter. He is witty and has a sense of humor. Rainsford believes that the world is made up of two groups, the hunters and the hunted. Throughout the story, the reader can see the change in Rainsford as he converts from the hunter to the hunted. Rainsford’s wartime experiences

His madness derives from a life of luxury, riches, and a militarist lifestyle. He remains this way throughout the story. He has a delirious desire to make others suffer for his own enjoyment. The reader can see a sense of insanity when viewing Zaroff because of his way of treating the killing people as a “game”. He is incapable of perceiving the difference between man and beast. All of these characteristics make General Zaroff a deranged, malicious human being. Even though these characters are completely divergent, there are qualities that these two characters share. Both Zaroff and Rainsford are smart, intelligent hunters and they are both very strategic. Even though the reader can see Rainsford as the hero, he ends up just like Zaroff in the end of the story, able to sleep soundly after ruthlessly killing another human being. Both of these men are manipulative, strategic, and feral. To conclude, Zaroff and Rainsford are both very different, but also analogous at the same time. They both have their own qualities that separate them from one another, but they also have characteristics that make them seem like the same person. Even though Rainsford goes through a change and Zaroff doesn’t, Rainsford ends up just like Zaroff. At the end of the story, both characters end up as the same, barbaric type of human