The serpent, as far as the Western world at large is concerned, has been adopted as the symbol of temptation, or simply of evil itself. Judeo-Christian doctrine leaves it unclear as to whether the Serpent is an emissary of Lucifer or actually the Big Nasty himself, but it makes little difference. In either case, the Serpent was directly responsible for the supposed fall of man from grace. As a result of the Serpent's temptation, Adam and Eve gained knowledge and self-realization, but were forever banished from the paradise in which they lived, separated from their glorious creator.
In Norse mythology, the biggest snake of all is the child of a giantess and the god of evil trickery, and was thrown into the ocean as an abomination. Like any good monster, however, he didn't die, and grew in the depths until he stretched around the world to grasp his own tail. Jörmungandr, as he came to be known, will trigger the apocalyptic battle at the end of the world when he releases his own tail and come up out of the sea to darken the sky with his venom. In the ensuing battle between the "good" pantheon and the various Norse monsters, Jörmungandr will fight the thunder god Thor for the last time (the two are old enemies), ultimately dying under Thor's hammer but poisoning the beloved protector god to death in the process. Painful stories to read, really, both of them.
This distaste for the serpentine shows up all over the place in Western culture. Someone who lies or dissembles is a "snake." The sound of a snake's rattle turns up in our movies any time as a tension-builder. "Snake eyes" is the worst possible result on a pair of dice in most games: double ones, the lowest possible value. Snake Eyes is also the member of the G.I. Joe team, the one who specializes in being a ninja and fighting in ways the other team members find distasteful. He's also a specialist in having an unpleasantly gravelly face and horrible facial disfigurements, further feeding the Unpleasant Snake idea.
So snakes are an embodiment of evil, as far as we Americans and Western Europeans are concerned. They're scaly, they sneak around on the ground loaded with poison, and their eyes are disturbingly configured. What else do we need?
Very strangely, though, the rest of the world holds snakes in no such contempt. Hinduism has a great many deities and spirits who take serpent form, and few are totally malevolent. For this reason, king cobras are held to be sacred animals in many areas, and there are many rituals involving communion with them. One version of asking for nourishing rain, for instance, involves a priestess coaxing a king cobra from his den and talking with him, kissing him on the nose three times over the course of the process. As an aside, Eastern religious practice is intensely more badass than that of the West in general.
For the East, the view of serpents has none of the distaste, fear, or loathing of that in the West. Westerners find the snake's slithering motion and constant tasting of the air repulsive and frightening. Eastern religions, on the other hand, have long held snakes (especially big ones) in a position of wonder and awe, fascinated by the mysterious way of moving and general quietness (believed to indicate great wisdom).
Also, snakes in the West have come to represent treachery, temptation, and especially with deadly venom. In Eastern tradition (and, strangely enough, in the full original context of Judeo-Christian doctrine) snakes are, at worst, representative of duality. The serpent carries deadly venom, but also holds the knowledge of medicine (that funny squiggly symbol on medical equipment is a snake wrapped around a staff, from a story about Moses healing snakebite victims). In other traditions snakes are death and birth; again, the snake carries a payload of fatal venom, but some cultures make a comparison with the umbilical cord as well.
The snake's habit of shedding its skin is one of great importance to mythology and philosophy. The Ourobouros, an ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, is a metaphorical representation of this habit. In ancient times, a snake's shed skin was perceived to be a dead version of its old self; having served its purpose, it was left behind with respect before it became mismatched and ineffective with the world around it. This metaphor of death to enable new life is huge in Hinduism and Buddhism especially, but persists in traditions the world over.
I'm not going to make any claims about which visions of snakes are right, but here's this: snakes in any mythological incarnation have always been wielders of great power, for good or ill. They're an awesome, profound, and widespread symbol in all parts of the world, and I thought it would be good to present you with more information about differing views, for your own edification and consideration.
TL;DR Snakes, man.
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