Princess, Persona, and Subjective Desire: A Reading of Oscar Wilde's Salome, The

Papers on Language and Literature, Winter 2004 by Marcovitch, Heather

Salome's death, noted tersely in the play as a stage direction, ultimately points to the ambivalent light in which Wilde depicts her. Wilde portrays Salome as uncontrollable desire while also giving her motivation for such desire. In light of this ambivalence, Salome's death appears to be less a punishment for her actions than the inevitable consequence of them. Salome dies because, like Dorian Gray, a persona left unchecked cannot be sustained. And, as Dorian's final hypocritical gesture towards Hetty seals his corrupt behavior, Salome's final monologue brings the expression of her desire to completion. Yet, like Dorian, Salome realizes that unbounded desire literally means that it will never be satisfied. She concedes, "Neither the floods nor the great waters can quench my passion" (574). Salome's desire, breaking free from the limits her persona imposed on it, ends up consuming her as well.

1 See, for instance, Nicholas Joost and Franklin E. Court, "Salome, the Moon, and Oscar Wilde's Aesthetics: A Reading of the Play." Papers on Language and Literature 8: supp (1972): 96-111.

2 The text used here is Lord Alfred Douglas's English translation of Salome.

3 Much of the language of Herod's fetishization comes from the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon), which nses similes to connect physical attrihut.es to the fertile landscape:

Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved. Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is so lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. (4:1-3)

Herod's language, however, firmly place Salome within the boundaries of his court

4 See Matthew 3:4: "Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt about his waist; and the food was locusts and wild honey." The First Soldier's description of Jokanaan has him coming "[f]rom the desert, where he fed on locusts and wild honey. He was clothed in camel's hair, and round his loins he had a leathern belt" (554).

WORKS CITED

Bucknell, Brad. On 'Seeing' Salome." ELH 60 (1993): 503-26.

Ellmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Vintage, 1988.

Freud, Sigmund. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Ed. and trails. James Strachey. New York: Norton, 1961.

Gilbert, Elliott L. "'Tumult of Images': Wilde, Beardsley, and Salome." Victorian Studies 26 (1983): 133-59.

Lewis, Hanna B. "Salome and Elektra: Sisters or Strangers." Orbis Litterarum 31 (1976): 125-33.

Nassaar, Christopher. "Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Salome." Explicator 57 (1988): 33-36.

Quigley, Austin E. "Realism and Symbolism in Oscar Wilde's Salome." Modern Drama 37 (1994): 104-19.

Riquelme, Jean Paul. "Shalom/Solomon/Salome. Modernism and Wilde's Aesthetic Politics." Centennial Review 39 (1995): 575-619.

Thomas, Martine. "Oscar Wilde's Salome: A Few 'Fin de Siecle' Aspects." Cahiers victoriens et edouardiens 36 (1992): 153-69.