The snake symbolizes Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s violent rage and malicious cunning. Dr. Roylott behaves in a wild and inhumane manner like his venomous pet, and the snake’s coldblooded nature reflects its master’s willingness to murder his own stepdaughters. Early in the story, Helen describes her stepfather as “absolutely uncontrollable in his anger” with a tendency to “indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path” (144). Similarly, at the end of the story, Holmes stirs the serpent’s “snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw” (157), its own master. Dr. Roylott lashes out in anger throughout the story, hurting those around him and ultimately destroying himself.

The snake also calls to mind the image of a serpent eating its own tail. This symbol, the ouroboros, represents the cyclical nature of reality. Holmes speaks of violence as a cycle as he stands over Dr. Roylott’s body: “Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another” (156). As Holmes states more elegantly and as the ouroboros illustrates, what goes around comes around, including Dr. Roylott’s wrath. This added layer of symbolism reinforces the poetic justice of the story’s resolution.