Allusions To The Basilisk In Literature

Basilisks have frightened, and enthraled many men, whether they were heroes, or scientists, in history. But none can better describe this beast than the literary giants that equally captivate our attention from centuries long past. Tales of the basilisk have spanned throughout the long years, and have influenced many authors and storytellers, not to mention, the philosophers as well. The only thing able to kill the basilisk, or that is feared by the basilisk is a rooster. Other legends say that a weasel is able to kill a basilisk as well. This may be an exaggeration of the mongoose’s ability to kill a venomous snake, however.

Literary references have been made to the basilisk by many great authors, from Shakespeare, to J.K. Rowling, famous for her Harry Potter series, in which a giant serpentesque basilisk terrorises Hogwart’s school, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’, a the brother and murder of a widow’s husband compliments her on her eyes, and she says she wishes she had a basilisk’s eyes, so as to kill him. In John Gay’s, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ he references the basilisk as well, with the following passage:

“Man may escape from Rope and Gun;
Nay, some have out liv’d the Doctor’s Pill;
Who takes a Woman must be undone,
That Basilisk is sure to kill.”

The famous “enlightened” philosopher and writer Voltaire also mentioned in ‘The Zadig’ a small passage about the basilisk, claiming that it was a creature “that will not suffer itself to be touch’d by a Man.” The poet, and husband of the classic author Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley also mentioned a basilisk in his ‘Ode To Naples’:

“Be thou like the imperial basilisk,
Killing thy foe with unapparent wounds!
Gaze on oppression, till at that dread risk,
Aghast she pass from the earth’s disk.
Fear not, but gaze,- for freemen mightier grow,
And slaves more feeble, gazing on their foe.”