Introduction

Although what qualifies as a monster is subjective, I focused on the “monster” qualities that connote or represent something evil. In particular, common animals such as snakes can be used throughout literature as a manifestation of a character’s moral disposition. Snakes are associated with “deception, temptation, and sin” and “make powerful symbols of abstract evil” (Kopřiva and Lewis). Throughout my readings of the course material, the monsters I have chosen for this digital exhibit are the snakes on King Zahhak’s shoulders from the “Tale of Zahhak.” The connotations of snakes are prominent in the narrative as the snakes on Zahhak’s shoulders feed on human lives.

In the text, the demon Eblis kissed Zahhak’s shoulders, and two snakes grew from them and were inextricable from his body. Zahhak was unable to rid himself of the snakes and needed to feed them human brains so that they would not attack him. Throughout the story, the snakes manifest the corrupting nature of Zahhak’s tyrannical rule. The chosen literary passage denotes Zahhak's need to feed the snakes constantly, which causes him to routinely order the murder of innocent people. As such, Firdawsi effectively evinces that constant actions rooted in malevolence will eventuate in more evil behavior, and the failure to do good and change one’s ways will lead to a perpetual cycle of wickedness and immoral descent.

The exhibit also features a comparison between the snakes and Grendel from Beowulf as both monsters entail the death of others, and also delves into a journal article that discusses the association of the snakes in the story with the devil. The primary artefact that I have chosen is a folio from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp that depicts the scene in which Zahhak faints when he learns the true meaning of his nightmare–he will be killed by a man named Feraydun. Moreover, both the “Death of Zahhak” and the “Bowl Depicting King Zahhak with Snakes Protruding from His Shoulders” further corroborate the snakes as monsters who perpetuate depravity. Overall, this exhibit aims to establish the snakes on Zahhak’s shoulders as malevolent entities that only cause destruction and depravity in the world, constituting them as monsters.