Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

suggests the motion a snake makes on the ground” (How Harry 19). Voldemort underlines his special ability
and his connection to his former house with his Dark Mark, a skull with a snake as a tongue. Finally, the
thing Voldemort is most fond of is his pet snake, Nagini, whom he turns into one of his precious Horcruxes
(HBP 506). As one can see, Rowling makes Voldemort’s connection to snakes overwhelmingly obvious
throughout the series.
Those with biblical knowledge understand that Rowling’s villain and “his serpent are symbolic
emblems of Satan” (McCarron). The image of a serpent is present throughout the Bible, most notably in
Revelations. In the final book of Bible, “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceivith the
whole world…was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him,” defeated by Christ’s
sacrifice (Rev. 12.9). This passage makes the relationship between Satan and the snake is extremely
evident; the serpent is Satan. The connection also implies that the serpent in Genesis is the same animal
that is cast out by Michael and his angels in Revelations. Though Genesis never compares the serpent to
Satan, popular culture continues to do so because of John Milton’s interpretation of the scene (Niditch 16).
Many assume Satan is the serpent who tempts Eve into eating the forbidden fruit by convincing her, “Ye
shall not surely die…your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3.4-
5). His blatant misguidance is certainly evil as it causes the downfall of man. If Satan is associated with
serpents in the Bible and Voldemort is represented by snakes throughout the Harry Potter series, then it is
conceivable that Rowling intended for Voldemort to embody Satan.
If their mutual association with reptiles is not enough, Voldemort and Satan also display similar
views on death. In the Genesis story, the serpent convinces Eve eating the forbidden fruit will not kill her
and this is not a lie (Niditch 17). Neither Eve nor Adam dies a physical death because of their disobedience,
but God does eject them from the Garden of Eden so that they may not take from “the tree of life, and eat,
and live for ever” (Gen. 3.22). By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve essentially eat death as this original sin
brings death into the world (Bell 81). The serpent is only concerned with immediate physical death and
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