The Monster Marks a Boundary
Look at where monsters live. In a strait, in a labyrinth, by a bridge, at the edge of a forest, at the gates of the world of the dead. These are not random addresses: they are all places of transition, where a person finds herself between the familiar and the unknown.
Such a figure is useful to a society. It explains why you must not go there, without a long discussion of the risks. A child may not remember a story about currents in a strait, but she will remember the monster living under the cliff and stay well away.
Three Ways to Make a Monster
The first method works especially well. People feel uneasy around creatures that violate categories: half animal, half human, seemingly alive but dead. We sort the world into categories, and anything that belongs to two at once causes not so much fear as disgust.
A monster in a myth is a "Do not go farther" sign, drawn so people will remember it.
Why the Hero Needs a Monster
There is also a practical reason. A hero is defined by whom the hero defeats: without the Minotaur, there is no Theseus; without the Gorgon, no Perseus. The monster serves as a measure - it shows how great the person who overcame it is.
That is why monsters are almost never simply strong. Each has a distinctive feature that demands cunning rather than brute force: a gaze that turns you to stone, a labyrinth you cannot escape, a song you cannot turn away from. Defeating such a creature tests the mind, not the muscles.
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Sources
- The idea that anxiety is caused by creatures that violate familiar categories dates back to the work of anthropologist Mary Douglas in 1966. Boundaries and transitions as places where monsters live are a general observation in comparative mythology