honor and lawful revenge, their throats swollen, their eyes rolling like a newborn colts, sweat running down their shoulders."(Gardner 35). This quote is Grendel talking about what he sees and only what he sees. This is where he is wrongly taught about how the humans live out their hypocrisy. You could compare this situation to a toddler watching an adult and learning by repeating and mimicking everything done by the older one. This is exactly how Grendel is learning. In Chapter four, Grendel's learning is furthered even more when he comes in contact with the people of Herot. At first, he comes to the hall and offers peace and mercy. Immediately the humans hack away at him with their swords. This really gets Grendel angry since he just offered his peace. He then becomes part of this hypocrisy by fighting man himself. From chapter four: "I staggered out into the open and up toward the hall with my burden, groaning out, 'Mercy! Peace!' The Harper broke off, the people screamed. (They all have their own versions, but this is the truth.) Drunken men rushed over with battle-axes. I sank to my knees crying, 'Friend! Friend!' They hacked at me yipping like dogs.", ". I crushed the body in my hug, then hurled it in their faces, turned, and fled."(Gardner 52) This was the event that really made Grendel into a nihilist. The only thing left was to develop this daring new concept. Enter stage left, the Dragon.The Dragon, the mentor, the teacher to Grendel of nihilism. Grendel is awakened by the dragon and is brought to his lair. The Dragon, not caring at all about Grendel as a person, helps Grendel develop his nihilist ideas. To do this, he explains to him that repetition is the key to nihilism. No matter how hard the universe try's to stop repetition, it always goes on. For example, if Grendel were not there, some other evil would be tormenting the humans. From chapter five: "The essence of life is to be found in the frust...
