What are some character traits of the main characters in "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell?

In his famous story, "The Most Dangerous Game," Richard Connell creates two fascinating characters in General Zaroff and Rainsford.  The main difference between these two characters is the fact that while General Zaroff is candid about himself and realizes what he is, Rainsford is deluded.  For, in the exposition of Connell's narrative, Rainsford is unconcerned about the feelings of any prey that he goes after.  Later, after he is captured, Rainsford is appalled at Zaroff's preference for his "new sensation," the hunting of men.  When Zaroff suggests that Rainsford is not unlike him since he had "experiences in the war," Rainsford, stiffly replies,

'Did not make me condone cold-blooded murder.'

The irony, of course, is that in the rising action and climax Rainsford come to understand what it means to be a beast at bay--"he knew now how an animal at bay feels"--and in the denouement of the story, he becomes the cold-blooded hunter of a man, Zaroff, whom he kills.  Without compunction, Rainsford decides afterwards that "he had never slept in a better bed."