GRENDAL: CHAPTERS 8-10 ANSWERS
CHAPTER 8:
1) Hrothulf is the son of Hrothgar’s brother Halga. He is now an orphan and has gone to live with Hrothgar at Hart. Hrothulf is very polite and at the same time cunning in a sense, due to the fact that on his outer shell he makes it look like he is never thinking or is stupid, but in reality he is always thinking. Hrothulf is sullen and withdrawn. He slowly separated himself from the others more and more and likes to be alone. He spends time with the Red Horse. He is more pragmatic than the others, and believes in equality. Hrothulf is a revolutionary, and his mind is more mature, politically conscience, and perceptive, than his age of just 14 years. Hrothulf is sad lonely and frustrated with the state of the world around him and is traumatized by his father’s death.
2) The Red Horse comes to say in Chapter eight that, “All systems are evil. All governments are evil. Not just a trifle evil. Monstrously evil.”(pg 120) The Red horse believes that the purpose of government is to protect the interests of those who already have power and deny protection to everyone else. He believes that even if Hrothulf replaces the current government with his own version of government, it would not change anything because it would just be exchanging one tyrannical government for another. The Red Horse feels that the government is unjust and that all governments are unjust, so there is no point in government at all. He opposes the senseless political systems and is a true anarchist who believes all governments are corrupt and violent.
3) The Red Horses’ Relationship with Hrothulf mirrors the dragon’s relationship with Grendel. Both mentors share certain characteristics and play the same role in their pupil’s lives. The Red Horse is taking away the idealistic notions that Hrothulf holds and instead is pushing Hrothulf’s political and philosophical ideas to the extremes of thought. The Red Horse plays the role of a mentor just as the dragon does.
4) Grendel states, “I cannot believe such monstrous energy of grief can lead to nothing!”(pg 123) Grendel has not wholeheartedly accepted the views of the dragon because he still believes he has a purpose to achieve. Nihilism meaning someone that believes that nothing is worthwhile and that every object or action is worthless in the long run or in the grand scheme of things. Grendel is starting to believe that yes he might just be a nothing in the long run, but without him that long run would be missing one small piece which would make it incomplete. By doing what he does he does not only achieve his own objective but the objective of Hrothgar, his thanes, and the shaper because without him they would have no motivations and the shaper and the thane soldiers would be out of a job or self purpose to achieve.
CHAPTER 9:
1) Now that Hrothgar’s village has evolved, the religious of beliefs of the people in his village have not changed but disappeared. The people in the village no longer believe in the gods. The religious system in place has confused them to the point where they no longer know who or what to believe in. The people are confused by the fact of whether or not their religion is monotheistic or polytheistic. This is because the priests do not have one concrete form of their beliefs. They