I am first going to look at what the snake symbolises for me based on my previous knowledge and some brief research.
The snake often looks moist, giving me the feeling it would be strange to touch, and so repellent. It's slithering movements and hissing noises are ominous and intimidating.
Youtube, 2010
Having seen videos of it attacking suddenly and viciously, it is unpredictable, sly and secret.
Youtube, 2011
I am ignorant to which snakes bite and are venomous so I have a fear of all snakes. Snakes swallow their food whole, some whilst it is still alive, and slowly digest it.
"All snakes are strictly carnivorous , eating small animals including lizards, other snakes, small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, snails or insects. Because snakes cannot bite or tear their food to pieces, they must swallow prey whole." - Wikipedia, 2012
As well as this grisly way of killing prey, other snakes such as the Boa Constrictor crush and suffocate prey to death before feasting.
"The boa will first strike at the prey, grabbing it with its teeth, it then proceeds to constrict the prey until death before consuming it whole." - Wikipedia, 2012
Snakes venom can effect one area of the body, the brain, the heart or multiple areas at a time. Some snakes also have rear fangs that could cause someone bitten to die of internal bleeding and brain hemorrhage.
"There are four distinct types of venom that act on the body differently.
- Proteolytic venom dismantles the molecular structure of the area surrounding and including the bite.
- Hemotoxic venoms act on the heart and cardiovascular system.
- Neurotoxic venom acts on the nervous system and brain.
- Cytotoxic venom has a localized action at the site of the bite." - Wikipedia, 2012
All of this makes me see the snake as a symbol of danger, unpredictability, suffering and death. Also, with hundreds of films revolving around snakes as dangerous or villainous, I have been brought up in an environment where the snake has always been regarded as a negative being.
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