Compare Conttrast

Everyone has someone who is the opposite of them. Antagonists are the opposite of the main character in the story: whether they are good or bad. In the story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe have very comparable antagonist characters. Zaroff from The Most Dangerous Game and Fortunato from The Cask of Amontillado do not expect what happens to them at the end of the story. Fortunato is not the one trying to kill the protagonist (Montresor). Zaroff informed the protagonist (Rainsford) that he was being hunted. Both stories can be related to Community and service. In both stories the antagonists are not aware of what the protagonist will do to them in the end. In The Most Dangerous Game Rainsford gets stranded on and an island, then Zaroff finds him and invites him to hunt people with him. Rainsford refuses so Zaroff decides to hunt him. Rainsford sets traps to kill Zaroff. In the end Rainsford kills Zaroff in hand to hand combat. In The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor invites Fortunato to drink Amontillado in his catacomb. Montresor ties Fortunato up to block him in with cement blocks, eventually he dies. Both Antagonists were killed in the end. The antagonists thought the protagonist could be their buddy. Since both murders were committed in a secluded area no one ever found out about their deaths. “One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed.” (Carroll) When Zaroff said this he knew this could be the last day of his life. “"Fortunato!” No answer. I called again --"Fortunato!"”(Poe) The lack of Fortunato’s answer implied he had given and accepted what his fate was. Both antagonist characters had a cruel fate in the end. Zaroff is like The Cask of Amontillado’s protagonist. Zaroff’s first intention after Rainsford refused to hunt with him is to hunt and kill Rainsford. The whole time Rainsford knew that Zaroff was going to attempt to kill him. Zaroff and Rainsford could have avoided all conflict, but Rainsford knew the conscious feeling he would bear if he hunted humans as game. “Zaroff is a Jamesian-style darker image of what Rainsford could have become had he not been raised in democratic fashion” (Thompson) Zaroff and Rainsford were the same kind of people. They both hunted game for entertainment. Zaroff got bored of hunting animals so he became an animal himself and hunted people. Fortunato was unaware of Montresor’s intention when he invited Fortunato to the catacombs to drink. Fortunato was never trying to kill the protagonist like Zaroff. Fortunato was a much friendlier antagonist; he was only trying to have a fun time and get drunk during carnival. Fortunato never felt any fear until the last moments of his life. Montresor never gave him any clue that he was going to die today. “Rainsford did not smile. "I am still a beast at bay," he said, in a low, hoarse voice. "Get ready, General Zaroff."”