Daniel Brothers
Mrs. Westbrook
H. Eng. – 7
8 November 2013
Has a story ever made a reader want to choke the character responsible for causing all the problems? Absolutely; often the antagonist is a very disreputable figure. Richard Connell wrote about an extraordinary character named Zaroff, who was an easy person to dislike. Richard constructed a short story called “The Most Dangerous Game”. Likewise Edgar Allan Poe “the father of the short story” develops evil characters that one despises. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Poe creates an evil psychopath. Connell’s antagonist, Zaroff and Poe’s antagonists, Montresor, give one plenty to think about. Both characters were wealthy and demonstrated evil, but each had different motives.
Montresor and Zaroff are evil and desired to kill. Connell writes, “My dear fellow,’ said the general, ‘there is one that can’” (74). General Zaroff gets excitement out of hunting humans because they can reason. He tells Rainsford that he hunts humans for sport. Montresor quotes, “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (Poe 87). Montresor wanted to punish Fortunato because he insulted him. He wanted to punish him by killing him. Montresor states, “I hastened to make an end of my labor” (Poe 92). Montresor desired to quickly put an end to his scheme putting Fortunato down. He wanted Fortunato to die slowly and painfully. The authors enjoy creating characters that are both evil and rich.
Both of the characters in the stories are wealthy. Zaroff says, “So I bought this island, built this house, and here I do my hunting” (Connell 74). Zaroff bought the island for hunting. He must have been very wealthy to buy an island. Connell states, “He was dressed in uniform, a black uniform trimmed with gray astrakhan” (Connell71). Zaroff’s slave is wearing extremely nice clothes. He wouldn’t have his slaves well-dressed, unless he was rich. Montresor verbalizes, “I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo” (Poe 89). Montresor wanted Fortunato to come back to his palazzo. A palazzo was a huge house or mansion that wealthy people owned. The characters had so much to live for, but they threw all of it away because of their desire to kill.
Zaroff and Montresor's motives for killing were extremely different from each other. Montresor utters, “I vowed revenge” (Poe