SCORPION

7th January 2024

Photo Credit: membio (Getty Images Pro), CANVA

Was I for this nigh-wracked upon the sea

And twice by akward wind from England’s bank

Drove back again unto my native clime?

What boded this, but well forewarning wind

Did seem to say “Seek not a scorpion’s nest,

Nor set no footing on this unkind shore.”

QUEEN MARGARET: Henry VI, Part 2, Act 3, Scene 2

SCORPION (Species Above: Buthus occitanus (Common Yellow Scorpion)

Shakespeare uses Scorpions metaphorically to indicate danger and pain. Queen Margaret compares the England she arrives in to a Scorpion Nest, Imogen’s Stepmother in Cymbeline views her stepdaughter as a potential threat, ‘a scorpion in her sight’, and Macbeth’s ‘mind is full of scorpions’, the ghosts of Banquo and Fleance.

There are no native Scorpions in the UK although there is a thriving population of European Yellow-tailed Scorpions in Sheerness, Kent, which apparently arrived in the 18th century. There are up to 35 species of Scorpions in Europe and English people of the time might have encountered Scorpions when travelling or trading. Scorpions appear 7 times in the Geneva Bible (1599 edition), and also in the Greek myths explaining the Astrological Constellations. In many Herbals of the period there are a range of cures for Scorpion stings, which might not be your most pressing problem in Shakespearean England, but reflects many of the sources of these Herbals in Greek and Roman medicine.

Scorpions are one of the earliest land animals. Current estimates of the number of Scorpion species in the world ranges from 2000 to over 2800. In Europe up to 35 species. Many Scorpions are not harmful to humans and only a tiny proportion are sufficiently venomous to kill a human. In the UK there are also Pseudoscorpion species which are entirely harmless to humans.

More Information

BBC Kent Nature Features: Sheerness Scorpions

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Geneva Bible (1599 edition): Global Bible Gateway

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): Scorpiones

Perseus Digital Library: Scorpions

Rein, J. O. 2024. The Scorpion Files. Trondheim: Norwegian University of Science and Technology. [Accessed 2017.01.23]. Available from https://www.ntnu.no/ub/scorpion-files/