Grendel meets with the Dragon that he has mentioned several times throughout the book. It seems as though the dragon was expecting Grendel. There also seems to be a continuous thing happening throughout these chapters with Grendel. He is about to attack the dragon, but then a second later he merely decides not too. Later in these chapters he is about to kill the queen, he was so convinced that he was going to do it, but then again he merely decides not too. The dragon explains to Grendel that he is so beyond the thought process of Grendel and the humans. He sees the world for what it is and what it has been. Grendel thinks he is a step above the humans, and wants to be more like the dragon, so he tries his best not to attack and kill like the humans normally would.
The dragon gives Grendel a charm, i'm not sure if this is a literal charm or a figurative charm but either way Grendel feels invincible. He can walk into the mead hall and kill whoever the fuck he wants without any consequence. A hero amongst the humans, known as Unferth challenges Grendel after he already killed several others in the mead hall. Unferth tells Grendel that he will kill him, and to say hello to the people in Hell for him. Grendel is laughing hysterically at this and easily damages Unferth. The thing that I really got out of this chapter was that Grendel did not end up killing Unferth. Grendel, as you can see is really becoming less and less of a monster, and more of a saint. Unferth comes crawling into Grendels cave three days later and he protects Unferth from his mother, and then brings him back to the mead hall. Why can Grendel easily kill the two guards at the door without a problem but not Unferth and the Queen?
Chapter 8 makes the reader question life and society. Hrogarth is talking to the Prince about how the law is corrupt, and how the government is corrupt, a theory some still have to this day. Hrogarth says that if there was any need to take down this government, him and his people would not have a problem in doing so. I don't even think Grendel has this mindset, he is probably unaware of the law, because he has no regard for it. He kills whoever he wants and doesn't have to worry about it. But I would say the same goes for the humans. They kill whomever they want as well and they do not seem to get in trouble, so is the government really a bother for them? Does Grendel fit into the group of the childlike human, or is he more like the evolved dragon? It's tough to say right now but eventually the answer will be uncovered.
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