Symbolism Of Nag

Nag is one of the antagonists in the story ¨Rikki-tikki-tavi¨ by Rudyard Kipling. Nag is the Cobra in the story that tried to kill the british family that lives in a bungalow in India, along with the mongoose named Rikki-tikki-tavi.The story proves how cold hearted, cruel, and sly he is.

First, Nag shows that he is very cold hearted when Darzee and his wife, two birds in the story, state “our baby bird fell out of the nest and Nag ate him!”(18) Although Nag stays cold hearted while he lasts in the story, he only gets more and more cold hearted when he is encouraged by his wife, Nagaina. She persuades him to kill the family “ I will kill the big man, the wife, and the child if i can, and then Rikki tikki…” (21) even when he see’s no reason to do most things. Later in the bathroom, he swung Rikki tikki around with violent shakes and jerks, because Rikki attacked him when he was waiting for the big man to come in so he could strike. Although Rikki tikki did not get killed, he could easily have been.

After he ate the baby bird Rikki came to fight him, but Nag asked him “You eat eggs, why should I not eat baby birds?”(21) Then, Nagaina tried to attack him while Nag distracted him. “Wicked, wicked Darzee!”(20) he said after Darzee warned Rikki that Nagaina was behind him. “When a snake misses it stroke, it never says anything or gives any means of what it will do next.” So when he disappeared into the tall waving grass without saying a word, he was not followed by Rikki Tikki. The thing he did next was horrid, he attempted to kill family, as I mentioned in the earlier in my