He took grendel's head and sword hilt to prove it was the end of the monsters. Also, these were the only things he could bring because he had to swim all the way back up to the surface.
She gave Beowulf Grendels claw.
Grendel's Claw (Arm) & Hroghgar's Closest Friend
Considering that Beowulf was able to defeat Grendel without any weapons or armor, Beowulf is much stronger. He ripped Grendel's arm off in the fight and Grendel fled.Also, Beowulf was very young at the time.
he dies later on
Grendel's mother takes his claw as a form of revenge against Beowulf for killing her son. It serves as a symbolic gesture to challenge Beowulf and his companions and to further escalate the conflict between them.
Beowulf is extremely confident of his victory over Grendel. That was a victory he was proud of, he kept Grendels arm as a trophy basically. He wanted to show off that HE was the one to defeat the moster Grendel and that no one else did. So once Grendels mother took the arm away from him she took his "trophy" away from him. By Grendels mother taking the arm she was basically testing Beowulf. She was basically trying to show that she took his "trophy" back and if he wanted it back he had to go to her lair and get it himself.
Beowulf takes Grendel's severed arm as a trophy after defeating the monster in the mead hall.
He is attacked by Beowulf and Beowulf tears his arm off and injures him very badly. Grendel then escapes, but is so badly wounded that he dies, and Beowulf is seen as a hero. Later, Grendels mother goes to avenge Grendel's death.
Beowulf followed Grendel's mother's tracks to her underwater lair after she attacked Heorot. He dove into the lake and ultimately battled and killed her with the help of a magical sword he found in her lair.
After Beowulf kills Grendel's mother, he sees Grendel's lifeless body and beheads it as proof of his victory. He then finds the decapitated head of Grendel and takes it with him as he returns to Heorot to show it to Hrothgar. The Geats and Danes rejoice in Beowulf's triumph over the monsters.
Under water, where Grendel's mother lived.
Beowulf gets hold of Grendel arms. Grendel cant handle the pain and wants to return back to its den. But Beowulfs immence hands rip of Grendels and Beowulf slauters Beowulf.