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Snakes
in Art, Legend, Myth and Religion
Snakes
can
glide gracefully along the ground, with no visible effort, climb and burrow,
swim
gracefully through the water, and glide through the air;
and envenomate
or constrict, and all with no limbs. So they are bound to excite feelings of admiration, awe, fear or
loathing, depending on the person and the culture in which he or she
lives. Even now, there are people who believe that snakes are slimy
and disgusting. Few of us are without a dislike of some animal.
Man’s
relationship with animals and plants has been expressed in art, mythology and
religion, from very early times. A S Byatt’s book "Possession" includes a long poem about
the Fairy Melusina, a creature who is part woman, part snake. Like
several other animals, snakes are included in a number of creation myths.
Vipers
are responsible for three of Shakespeare’s most bizarre stage directions, in
"Anthony and Cleopatra" – [To
an asp, which she applies to her breast. [Applying
another asp to her arm. [Applies
an asp. These
are soon followed by one of his shortest directions – [Dies. Unfortunately,
after this, a guard refers to the "trail of slime" left by a
snake, which is nonsense. Before the tragic scene, Cleopatra
refers to the snake "that kills and pains not". She was soon
to find out that "pains not" was badly wrong. Such was the
state of knowledge of snakes. Shakespeare mentions snakes in a few
other plays –
Near
the end of "The Tragedy of Othello" we find – Lodovico:
Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth. (Of
Iago.) In
"The Tragedy of Macbeth" we find – Macbeth:
We have scotch’d the snake, not kill’d it. Second
Witch: Fillet of a fenny snake, (Grass
snake?) In
the cauldron boil and bake; Eye
of newt and toe of frog, Wool
of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s
fork and blind-worm’s sting, (Slow-worm
has sight, but no venom.) Lizard’s
leg and howlet’s wing, For
a charm of powerful trouble, Like
a hell-broth boil and bubble. In
"Cymbeline" – Pisanio:
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave This
viperous slander enters.
See
also –
"Snake"
by D H Lawrence which is analysed
by Heather Haberl. "The
Viper" by Gavin Miller "Snake"
by Emily Dickinson "The
Diamondback" by J Copek "Rattlesnake
Dreams" by Ray Gonzalez Children’s
poems about snakes from Porchester School, Nottingham "Sendin’
the Vipers" by Mezz Mezzrow and his Orchestra "Chant
for Killing a Snake" by Nicolas Guillen – Sensemaya – Eartha Kitt The
Singing Snake by Stefan Czernecki
Snake
painting
Snakes
and lizards were sacred to the Egyptian god Atum. Apep was a
serpent-god, as were Mehen, Nehebkau and Uto/Wadjet, and Hathor was often
depicted as a snake, as were Tefnut and Uajyt. Meretseger was a
cobra-goddess. Quetzalcoatl was one name of the central American
feathered serpent-god. In Japan, Benten, the love-goddess, was
associated with the snake and the dragon. If
you type "snake.god" in the search box of Google you will find a
number of references to books and films.
Near
the beginning of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament, the
snake is portrayed a tempter. From the RSV bible –
Then
the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have
done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I
ate." The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you
have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild
animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the
days of your life."
Much
later, we find this –
Moses
and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord commanded; Aaron cast
down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
And
in the Book of Proverbs –
Three
things are too wonderful for me;
four
I do not understand:
the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a serpent on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden. Saint
Patrick
is said to had the authority to have the snakes driven out of
Ireland, as a symbol of his power over evil. The picture in this link
shows a snake. In another
version of the legend, the snake is a pagan symbol.
The western basilisk and dragon are
more recent developments. Greek mythology includes the nine-headed
Hydra and the Medusa, with a head covered in snakes. In Walt Disney’s
"Jungle Book", in the song "Trust in Me",
the snake is a wily, untrustworthy character. We still sometimes use the phrase
"snake in the grass", though in fact snakes are probably no more
untrustworthy than chaffinches, chinchillas or chimpanzees. The
concepts of conscious deceit and honesty probably require higher
intelligence than snakes possess. Sometimes
we associate honesty with words such as "straight" and
"upright". We can be exhorted to "walk tall"
and "keep your chin up". What could be more different
from these ideas than a creature that lies on the ground and is
"bent" or "crooked", words we use to denote
dishonesty. The word "insinuate", coming from the same root as
"sinuous" and "sine", also implies
deviation from the straight and narrow, as does "devious". We refer to some
people as "creeping" or "crawling", more
pejorative words. "Low cunning" has the same kind of
connotation. Snakes
and dragons are sometimes seen as the guardians of treasures, as recently as
J R R Tolkiens’ book "The Hobbit", in which the dragon, Smaug, is deprived
of the Arkenstone, a great gem, provoking great anger in Smaug, who
comes out of the mountain to attack a town. The
snake has been seen as a medicinal symbol, for example as Asklepios or
Aesculapius. See
"Snakes – A Natural History", edited by Roland Bauchot, for
much more information on this subject, as well as on the lives of snakes.
Egyptian
gods – Apep Atum Hathor Mehen Meretseger Nehebkau Tefnut Uajyt Uto/Wadjet
Degei – Fijian snake-god
The serpent as
divinity
Quetzalcoatl
– feathered serpent Teotihuacan
– serpent god
Sumerian
serpent god
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