Although in The Most Dangerous Game General Zaroff is more fully characterized, Richard Connell, the author, intended for Rainsford to be the dynamic character while Zaroff is considered static and both are considered plausible in todays society. Zaroff is physically characterized more than Rainsford and his possessions are better described. Rainsford is the character that changes throughout the story and Zaroff remains the same. Both of these characters are considered plausible because it is possible for both of them to exist in society.
In this story, Rainsford is on a hunting trip with Whitney, a friend, and he falls of the boat one night reaching for his pipe. He eventually makes it to the shore of a nearby island and stumbles across a very big house. The house belongs to General Zaroff, and this is where Rainsford and Zaroff first meet. Zaroff recognizes Rainsfords name because he had read all of his hunting books. Then, Rainsford and Zaroff begin talking about hunting and Zaroff tells Rainsford how he got bored with hunting and how he came up with a new animal to hunt. Zaroff told him it was humans and Rainsford went crazy. Rainsford wanted off the island, but Zaroff would not let him unless he could hunt Rainsford. If Rainsford could elude him for three days, then Zaroff would let him go. After three days of outsmarting and outrunning Zaroff, Rainsford was finally free.
During the story, the reader gets a better physical description of General Zaroff. There is not a physical description of Rainsford. The reader learns all about how Zaroff looks and feels. We also get the impression that Zaroff is a savage when he says that he is a Cossack like Ivan who he said was a savage. The only descriptions of Rainsford in the story are when we figure out that Rainsford is civilized and has values. The reader finds this when Rainsford when Rainsford goes off on Zaroff for hunting humans. He calls Zaroff a murderer and tries to reason with him.
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Even though there is not much information about Rainsford during the story, he is still considered the main character and the dynamic character. At the beginning of the story, Rainsford is having a discussion with Whitney on the boat. They are talking about how great hunting is for the hunter [but]not for the [animal]. Rainsford gets on to his friend for talking about how the animal feels. He tells Whitney that Youre a big game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a [animal] feels? A little bit later, Rainsford tells his friend that The world is made up of two classes- the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are the hunters.
This foreshadows what is to happen to Rainsford. He becomes the hunted and his thoughts about hunting are probably changed forever. This is why he is the dynamic character. Zaroff is the static character of the story because he stays the same throughout the story. From the time we first meet Zaroff until we last see him, his thoughts and beliefs are of only one thing which is hunting humans and the enjoyment he gets from it. In this story, the roles of the dynamic and static characters were reversed. Usually the dynamic character is the one we know the most about but in this case Zaroff, the static character, was the one we knew the most about.
In todays society, both of the characters of Rainsford and Zaroff could be plausible. There are millions of hunters in the world like Rainsford who have hunted all their life. Zaroffs character, crazy as he is, could exist in todays society. If there were people around like Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson, then there is not any reason why a person like Zaroff could not exist. However, the setting and where he was at is not that plausible. There is no way Zaroff and a few other people could have been the only inhabitants of the island with that big of a house and that many lights. It would be impossible to bring that much electricity to an island like that one.
In The Most Dangerous Game, Richard Connell gave better descriptions of a static character instead of the dynamic character which usually gets most of the descriptions. The reader just got a better mental picture of Zaroff then they did of Rainsford. Connell gave the story a bit of a realistic edge by making both Rainsford and Zaroff plausible.
