The Most Dangerous Game Character Analysis

In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” author Richard Connell presents us with his main character, Sanger Rainsford. Mr. Rainsford is a world class hunter and author, who finds himself running from a psychotic general on a secluded tropical island. Rainsford involuntarily has to not only run for his life, but mortally fight back to survive a deadly game of hunt or be hunted. The theme of the story is role reversal, which causes Rainsford’s character to change throughout the story. As a matter of fact, Rainsford’s viewpoint of hunting and how the animals feel towards it shift altogether. He realizes that his belief of what the animals felt was wrong in its entirety, and with the experience of what it is like to be hunted, he becomes less ignorant and naive.

Rainsford is a hunter through and through. Before Rainsford’s encounter on General Zaroff’s island, his logic on hunting is that it is a game that harms no one; the hunter gets his prize, and the animal is never aware of what’s going on. Rainsford discusses this idea with his fellow hunter, Whitney, who both are fortunate to be the hunters, not the hunted. Rainsford displays this when he remarks to Whitney, “Who cares how a jaguar feels?... They’ve no understanding.”(p. 17) Rainsford then further explains his perception of hunting when he continues, “The world is made up of two classes - the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are the hunters.” (p. 17) This dialogue shows that Rainsford is fully committed to his stance that one is either an aggressor or a victim of the hunt. At this point in the story he is just about to change from a confident hunter to the terrified animal being hunted for