Salome

Salomé is a one-act tragedy by Oscar Wilde, first written in French in 1891 and translated into English in 1894 by Lord Alfred Douglas with revisions by Wilde. The play was first performed in Paris in 1896 after being banned from the English stage for its depiction of biblical characters. Salomé would not be publicly performed in England until 1931. It is considered a piece of symbolist literature. In 1905, Richard Strauss used Wilde’s play as the basis for his opera Salomé. The story is based upon the biblical account of John the Baptist’s death, in which the daughter of Queen Herodias supposedly demanded his head on a platter as payment for a dance. While the bible never gives Herodias’s daughter a name, later adaptations of the narrative typically referred to her as Salomé. At the time of its premiere, the play’s exploration of power, desire, and Christian doctrine made it controversial, with many objecting to its content as immoral.

This guide refers to the version published in 1907 by John Lane, including illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley.

Content Warning: Salomé and this guide include discussions of suicide. The Background section also describes anti-gay bias and discrimination that Oscar Wilde faced and contains references to outdated and offensive terminology.

Plot Summary

Salomé occurs at the palace of King Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, in approximately 30 AD. The play begins with two of Herod’s servants, a captain of the guard from Syria and a page, observing the moon. From below, they hear the voice of Jokanaan, Wilde’s name for John the Baptist, who is imprisoned in a cistern. Jokanaan has been arrested for condemning Herod’s marriage to Herodias, his brother’s former wife, considering it to be incestuous. The young Syrian guard captain watches the princess Salomé, Herod’s stepdaughter, although the page warns him against it.

When Salomé leaves the banquet and comes out onto the terrace to escape being watched by her stepfather, she also hears the sound of Jokanaan’s voice. Fascinated, she demands to see him, bribing the young Syrian guard by promising to drop a flower for him later. Jokanaan is brought out of his prison and Salomé is intrigued by his appearance. She compliments various parts of his body, but Jokanaan refuses to reciprocate, continuing to denounce her and her mother, Herodias. Salomé retracts her compliments and instead insults Jokanaan’s appearance. However, Jokanaan remains unmoved. When Salomé begs him to let her kiss his mouth, Jokanaan rejects her advances and tells her to seek God. The young Syrian guard, distraught by Salomé’s attraction to Jokanaan, dies by suicide.

Herod and Herodias come out of the palace to the terrace and Herod slips on the Young Syrian guard’s blood. He is disturbed by this, thinking it to be a bad omen, but Herodias dismisses this interpretation. Herod sees Salomé out on the terrace and invites her to come and eat and drink with him, but she refuses. Herodias scolds her husband for looking too much at her daughter. Jokanaan’s voice is still audible from the cistern, and he begins to preach against Herodias again, angering the queen. However, Herod refuses to execute Jokanaan because he is considered to be a holy man and possibly a prophet who has seen God. As the Jews of Herod’s court debate the doctrine of prophets, a pair of Nazarene courtiers discuss the recent miracles performed by Jesus Christ. Herod is disturbed by the rumor that Jesus has raised the dead and proclaims that he should not be permitted to do that.

Herodias remains annoyed by Jokanaan’s accusations of incest. Herod attempts to distract himself by requesting that Salomé dance for him. She is initially reluctant, but when Herod promises to give her anything she wants, she accepts. Salomé performs the “dance of the seven veils” for Herod against her mother’s wishes. When she has finished, she asks Herod to give her the head of Jokanaan on a silver charger. He attempts to refuse, offering her other rich gifts instead. Herodias, on the other hand, approves of Salomé’s request, thinking that it is a clever way to compel Herod to execute the man for insulting her. Salomé remains firm in her request and Herod is eventually forced to relent. An executioner goes down into the cistern, but Salomé hears nothing but silence and then the fall of an object. She thinks that the executioner dropped his sword because she assumes that Jokanaan will cry out and scream if he is going to be killed. However, the executioner returns with Jokanaan’s head on a silver platter, indicating that he died completely silently. Salomé remains infatuated with Jokanaan, although frustrated that he never desired her, and she kisses his dead mouth. Herod flees back into the palace, horrified by the sight, and orders his soldiers to kill Salomé by crushing her with their shields.