Compare And Contrast Zaroff And Rainsford In The Most Dangerous Game

The Most Dangerous Game In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, the protagonist, Sanger Rainsford, and the antagonist, General Zaroff, are similar characters. Both Rainsford and Zaroff share common passions, skills and ideology. Initially, there is admiration between both characters, because Rainsford is Zaroff’s hero and Rainsford is grateful for Zaroff being welcome to him. However. they soon discover how similar they are, and these similarities become the cause of conflict in the story.

After Rainsford arrives on Ship-Trap Island, he discovers a mansion where General Zaroff lives, the antagonist of the story. General Zaroff pretends to be a civilized person just living on a deserted island, but in reality, he is a cold-blooded murder. General Zaroff tricks Rainsford into a false sense of security only to throw him into the jungle and force him to participate in his disgusting game of hunting humans for amusement. Rainsford has to stay alive for three days in order to live, and he has to fight for his life during the hunt. In the end Rainsford is able to win, and by doing so gains knowledge that changes him.

Rainsford is a clever guy. Especially when he is in trouble… In “ The Most Dangerous Game” Rainsford is hopeful, clever, and brave. Rainsford is hopeful because he keeps trying to beat General Zaroff. In the story “ The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard connell, it says “‘He shinned excitedly up a tree and looked back.’ ‘His pursuers had stopped.’”(Connell 235) This quote basically means Rainsford did everything he could to try to get away from Zaroff and when they finally stopped pursuing him, Rainsford was thrilled. This is why Rainsford is brave.

This is what helps the most in his escape from General Zaroff. In addition Rainsford at first was probably bewildered. But after awhile he was able to acknowledge and understand his situation. Rainsford was able to overcome his fear with courage, he was able to escape General Zaroff with cunning, and was able to strategically plan with reason. Rainsford displayed courage, cunning and reason in hi escape from General

He then created his own troops and started hunting for animals. As an experienced boy scout, he managed to kill a boar and his troop celebrated together. As he has developed the feeling of rage, he did not allow any of the boy who was on Ralph side to taste the food. He also started to do bad things to Ralph and his friend by provoking them. If only he did not feel angry at the very first place, he will never develop the feeling of rage and they can survive together without causing harms to one another.

He is no longer automatically the hunter, lacking the carefully selected weapon or course he would have on a normal hunting trip. On the yacht, he speaks with Whitney about their upcoming trip, mentioning jaguars. His hunting partner comments on how the jaguar must feel during the pursuit of a human, mentioning it must be incredibly frightened. At the mention of an animal experiencing the fear and pain a human might, Rainsford is quick to say how ridiculous it is. The experienced hunter finds himself coming to shore on Ship-Trap Island, learning about what the man residing in the manor actually does.

Another example would be when “He thought of a native trick he had learned in Uganda” (661). This shows he is alert by how he realizes the hounds, Zaroff, and Ivan were all coming so he quickly set up a trap to try and kill them to escape. Also it shows that he can remember a trick he learned before and again apply it to his situation. And finally it shows that he is extremely alert by how he sets the trap up so quickly so he does not get captured by Zaroff. In conclusion all these examples show Rainsford is a survivor by how he shows alertness in dangerous situations and how he gets out of that

Rainsford who is innocent of what is going to happen says, “The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees. Luckily you and I are the hunters”. This comment makes readers suspect that the tables are going to turn on Rainsford. Because they don’t know how it’s going to happen if it even does, readers feel stress and suspense. Later in the story, Rainsford is in the general’s home and admiring his hunting trophies.

Ranger is introduced to the audience as a very intimidating man that will do anything to get his job done. We know that he is very talented through the author’s direct characterization. “He makes apprehensions other agents only dream about. He gets a little creative sometimes, but hey, that’s the way it is with a genius, right”(33), this quote tells the audience that he is very good at what he does and Stephanie could use his help. Throughout Stephanie’s search for Morelli, she gets into some very dangerous situations and without Ranger, she would have never finished the search.

He only resorted to hunting humans because he was bored with the regular styles of hunting. There was no more thrill in hunting for him, so he tried to find a new challenge for himself. Advancing with this topic, Zaroff could have done a variety of different things to replace hunting to give himself that thrill. For example, he could challenge himself with different  styles or methods of hunting. Instead his sport of murdering humans he could also try new weapons to hunt animals with, or maybe even invent new weapons used for hunting.