The Origins of The Bosom Serpent

While the tale of the Bosom Serpent may simply be read as a metaphor for sin within the conscience or heart of man, Hawthorne's statement at the beginning of the tale lends to the fact that cases of snakes within the stomach or bosom were seen in newspapers, magazine articles, and other literary sources before Hawthorne's story was conceived. Nonliterary sources from legitimate magazines such as the New-England Magazine and the Universalist newspaper the Olive Branch report occurrences where citizens have reportedly ejected snakes and eels from their stomachs. While these may well be folkloric beliefs, they could still be the source of Hawthorne’s Egotism. Another more likely source is that from Puritan priests that speak of metaphors of snakes within ones bosom to depict the guilt of man’s soul. These sources prove that the origins of The Bosom Serpent may not have been from Hawthorne’s own imagination but from the abundance of “bosom serpents” seen in the newspapers, magazines, and sermons of his time.