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The Adventure of the Speckled Band

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Student Question

What does the snake symbolize in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?

Quick answer:

The snake in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" represents the moral depravity to which the Roylott family has been reduced. The Roylott family has been in decline for some time, but it's only now that a family heir has stooped to murder, the ultimate evil.

Expert Answers

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Ever since the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve, snakes have been commonly used as symbols of all that is foul, wicked, and depraved. And the deadly swamp adder in Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is simply one of many such representations. Here, as elsewhere, a snake is being used to symbolize evil. Specifically, it's the moral depravity to which the Roylott family has been reduced.

For many years, the Roylotts have been in decline due to the profligacy and dissipation of successive heirs. But it's only now, in the form of the wicked Dr. Roylott, that a Roylott heir has actually sunk so far as to commit murder in order to enrich himself. The weapon that Roylott uses to commit murder is the deadly swamp adder with the eponymous speckled band. It was the snake, the ultimate symbol of evil, that Roylott used to murder his stepdaughter Julia so that he could get his greedy hands on her inheritance.

One could also say that the snake symbolizes the prevailing prejudice towards the exoticism of the East. The swamp adder isn't native to Britain; it's one of India's deadliest snakes. Roylott will have known about the creature from his time as a doctor in India. Therefore, the snake and its deadly poison could be said to represent the dangers presented by what was viewed as a strange and exotic culture.

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