Compare And Contrast Rainsford And General Zaroff

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 a common passion for the sport of hunting, the knowledge of hunting, and a common ideology of the weak and the strong. Initially, there is much admiration between Rainsford and Zaroff. Rainsford shows his gratitude to Zaroff by allowing him refuge on his private estate. In turn, Zaroff admires Rainsford for his collection of published books on hunting. However, their common passion and knowledge for hunting, as well as their ideology of the weak and the strong becomes the source of their conflict. Both characters soon discover how similar they are, and it is these similarities that become the origin of

Rainsford remarks, “The world is made up of two classes-- the hunters and the huntees,” (1). Where Zaroff believes, “Life is for the strong, to be lived by the the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong,” (9). Zaroff hunts humans because, “Hunting had ceased to be what you call ‘a sporting proposition,’ (7) . He seeks and creates a new challenge by hunting innocent sailors. The men’s ideology is central to the story because Zaroff turns on Rainsford and makes him the hunted. Their fight to the death begins as soon as Rainsford demands to be taken off of Ship-Trap Island. Zaroff becomes disappointed in Rainsford not wishing to engage in hunting humans. He no longer considers Rainsford a strong hunter, but rather one of the weak of the world. Rainsford and Zaroff both have extensive hunting knowledge due to their travels around the world. Since both of the men have equal hunting knowledge they attempt to outsmart each other during the deadly game. For example, Rainsford creates a long and complex trail that would hopefully confuse