Serpents have significant roles in mythological systems worldwide, representing fertility, deceit, life, and immortality. Judeo-Christian culture views snakes as evil, while other cultures see them as guardians or creators. Understanding cultural context is crucial when interpreting snakes in literature.
Serpents play a very important role in the mythological systems of many different cultures and societies, past and present, around the world. In some mythological systems, snakes are regarded as symbols of fertility and in others they are seen as deceivers. Serpents in mythology appear in both ancient and modern literature, with interpretations along cultural lines, making it important to research a culture’s mythological system before attempting to analyze its literary works. Snakes in mythology are interesting largely because of the many different roles they play. Many different mythological systems see them as powerful, good, and representative of life and connection to the Earth, while others, especially Judeo-Christian culture, see snakes as representing the devil.
Snakes in mythology are often representative of life, fertility and a strong connection to the Earth. Some cultures, for example, believed that snakes acted as guardians and messengers from the underworld because they lived in the ground. Some African and Australian creation stories involve a large serpent as a creator figure or at least as a powerful water god. Greek and Egyptian myths also include stories of a serpent that existed before the Earth and played an important role in the creation of the Earth. Snakes in mythology are also sometimes used to represent immortality or wisdom and are often closely related to water.
Judeo-Christian culture has a very different view of the roles of snakes in mythology. One of the best-known biblical stories involves the devil taking the form of a serpent and tricking Eve into consuming the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, forbidden by God. For cultures mainly influenced by Judeo-Christian traditions, therefore , snakes in mythology are commonly representative of deceit and evil. St. Patrick, for example, is said in Irish religious legend to have banished all snakes from Ireland after they repeatedly attacked him while he was fasting.
Serpents in mythology have provided a large number of associations that modern writers continue to use. It is important to understand the culture to which the writers belong and for which they write before attempting a symbolic interpretation of snakes in literature. Snakes in Western literature are often representative of evil and deceit due to the strong Judeo-Christian influence on Western culture. Other writers, however, still use snakes to symbolize fertility, life, immortality, wisdom, and a variety of other traits that have nothing to do with deceit or evil.
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