How Are Montresor And Rainsford Alike

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Montresor and Rainsford are two intelligent individuals who are on a journey to beat an opponent. Both of these protagonists are good planners. Their goals are different, revenge and survival, but they both succeed in carrying out their plans. Both men are intelligent and skilled, as Montresor carries out his plan perfectly, kills Fortunato, and is able to get away with it. Similarly, Rainsford uses his hunting skills and quick thinking and is able to defeat Zaroff, who is a very skilled hunter. Another similarity is that both protagonists have a dark side. Montresor's dark side is evident from the beginning of the story, whereas Rainsford's is not. Montresor's dark side can be seen in the pride and pleasure he gets from trapping Fortunato as can be seen from the following quote; "I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation." Poe, 635. Rainsford's dark side is less evident. Rainsford's dark side can be seen in his hunting nature. He doesn't accept that animals have feelings of fear, and sees them only as prey. This can be seen from the following quote;"The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters." d. (Connell, 600) -. …show more content…

First, Montresor seems to be irrational and unreliable as a character and a narrator. The story opens up with Montresor saying, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could" (Poe,635). This seems to be exaggerated, as Fortunato seemed to be a nice fellow during the course of the story. Rainsford, on the other hand, is more rational and stable. He tries to reason with Zaroff, this can be seen in the following quote “Civilized? And you shoot down men?” “Suppose he refuses to be hunted?”. Connell, 611, here Rainsford is trying to reason with Zaroff, who has already made up his

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