Who Is The Protagonist In The Most Dangerous Game

In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, the author describes the characters’ beliefs and values through the actions. The protagonist, Rainsford is a hunter who believes that the animals he hunts have no emotion. While he was sailing to Rio on a yacht, there are gun shots that cause him to fall overboard. After falling into the water, he swims until he reaches the shore of the island, Ship Trap, and meets the owner, General Zaroff. As Rainsford converses with him, he ends up playing Zaroff’s “game” dedicated to all lost sailors. During the “game,” Rainsford realizes that Zaroff hunts for reasons that are different from his beliefs. Ultimately, the characters’ actions reveal that immorality and corruption cohabit the

While he converses with Rainsford, he tells him that “[killing] supplies [him] with the most exciting hunting in the world” (17). In addition, when he “[invented] a new animal hunt,” he never [grows] bored” of hunting them, because he has finally found something that can “match [his] wits” (17). Once Zaroff reveals the ideal animal to Rainsford, he appears to be extremely shocked by his answer. Zaroff then takes this as his queue to tell him that he believes “life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs to be, taken by the strong” (18). The general explains to him that he thinks “the weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure,” (18) and since his is given the gift to be strong, he should use it to his own desire. All in all, Zaroff’s words and actions indicates that he is an immoral man who holds himself really high up on the spectrum of the strong and the

He believes that the huntees do not understand fear, while his friend, Whitney, tells him that hunting is not “the best sport in the world” (10) for the animals being hunted. Afterwards, when he converses with Zaroff after arriving on his island, Rainsford calls him a murderer from the killings he has done from his “game.” He tries to explain the differences between his belief and Zaroff’s, but Zaroff does not seem to understand. Rainsford tries to describe to Zaroff that killing animals is acceptable, while killing one’s own species is a sin. Shortly after Rainsford escapes the general’s “game” using his experiences from the past, he is declared the winner. Zaroff, telling him beforehand that the winner gets to live, takes this time to say his final words to Rainsford. He says that “one of [them] is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in [an] excellent bed” (27), showing that he follows the rules he makes. Rainsford, however, shows no sign of compassion to his loss and then watches Zaroff get killed by the hounds. The experience makes Rainsford decide that “he [has] never slept in a better bed” (27), now that he no longer has to worry about playing Zaroff’s game in the future. The obstacles Rainsford experience shows the reader how he slowly becomes more immoral and goes against his past beliefs after his meeting with General