Snakes, Lovers, and Moralists: A Comparative Look at the Lamia Legends of the West, the White Snake Legends of China, and the Orthodox and Gnostic Interpretations of Genesis

Abstract

This paper looks at several stories, spread over a wide distance through both time and space, that share some remarkable features. The lamia stories of the ancient Mediterranean area, especially that told by Philostratus in his life of Apollonius, John Keats retelling of Philostratus's story, the 17th century Chines legend of White Snake as told by Feng Menglong, as well as the so-called orthodox and Gnostic interpretations of the Genesis story of Adam, Eve, God, and the snake, all seem to share a very similar cast of characters acting out a very similar plot. The characters include a young woman who is either identical to or in league with a powerful snake, a gullible, naive young man whom she tempts or seduces, and an older, male, moral authority figure who exorcizes or punishes the snake and upbraids the young man for his moral laxity. All the stories, regardless of their temporal or spatial origins, seem eventually to be interpreted in two, diametrically opposing versions, one version with the snake/woman cast as the villain, the other with the moral authority figure playing the bad guy. This paper examines some of these stories and raises a few questions about psychological meanings as well as possible connections