Cleopatra Bitten by asp

Where art thou, death? Come hither! Come, come, come, and take a queen

In Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra has an asp brought to her palace via a fig basket and gets it to bite her. She wanted a swift, painless death and to leave behind an unbesmirched corpse. However, the serpent would have most likely been an Egyptian cobra, far too big for a fig basket. Its toxin provides a protracted, painful death and leaves blisters at the bite sites.