Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act

by Oscar Wilde

"SALOMÉ" has made the author's name a household word wherever the English language is not spoken. Few English plays have such a peculiar history. Written in French in 1892 it was in full rehearsal by Madame Bernhardt at the Palace Theatre when it was prohibited by the Censor. Oscar Wilde immediately announced his intention of changing his nationality, a characteristic jest, which was only taken seriously, oddly enough, in Ireland. The interference of the Censor has seldom been more popular or more heartily endorsed by English critics.

"My dear fellow," he said, with his usual drawling emphasis, "when I see a monstrous tulip with four wonderful petals in someone else's garden, I am impelled to grow a monstrous tulip with five wonderful petals, but that is no reason why someone should grow a tulip with only three petals."

Wilde used to say that "Salomé" was a mirror in which everyone could see himself. The artist, art; the dull, dulness; the vulgar, vulgarity.

is like a dead woman. You would fancy she was looking for dead things.

Something terrible may happen.

Never have I seen her so pale. She is like the shadow of a white rose in a mirror of silver.

THE NUBIAN The gods of my country are very fond of blood.

THE CAPPADOCIAN In my country there are no gods left. The Romans have driven them out.

FIRST SOLDIER The Jews worship a God that you cannot see. THE CAPPADOCIAN I cannot understand that.

THE CAPPADOCIAN What is he talking of? FIRST SOLDIER We can never tell. Sometimes he says terrible things, but it is impossible to understand what he says.

THE CAPPADOCIAN An old cistern! It must be very unhealthy. SECOND SOLDIER Oh no! For instance, the Tetrarch's brother, his elder brother, the first husband of Herodias the Queen, was imprisoned there for twelve years. It did not kill him. At the end of the twelve years he had to be strangled.

She is like a dove that has strayed. … She is like a narcissus trembling in the wind. … She is like a silver flower.

SALOMÉ How sweet the air is here! I can breathe here! Within there are Jews from Jerusalem who are tearing each other in pieces over their foolish ceremonies, and barbarians who drink and drink, and spill their wine on the pavement, and Greeks from Smyrna with painted eyes and painted cheeks, and frizzed hair curled in twisted coils, and silent, subtle Egyptians, with long nails of jade and russett cloaks, and Romans brutal and coarse, with their uncouth jargon. Ah! how I loathe the Romans! They are rough and common, and they give themselves the airs of noble lords.

How good to see the moon! She is like a little piece of money, you would think she was a little silver flower.

THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN Rejoice not thou, land of Palestine, because the rod of him who smote thee is broken. For from the seed of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and that which is born of it shall devour the birds.

JOKANAAN Back! daughter of Babylon! Come not near the chosen of the Lord. Thy mother hath filled the earth with the wine of her iniquities, and the cry of her sins hath come up to the ears of God.

JOKANAAN Get thee behind me! I hear in the palace the beating of the wings of the angel of death.

JOKANAAN Back! daughter of Babylon! By woman came evil into the world. Speak not to me. I will not listen to thee. I listen but to the voice of the Lord God.

Ah, did he not foretell that some misfortune would happen? I, too, foretold it, and it has happened.

FIRST SOLDIER We must bear away the body to another place. The Tetrarch does not care to see dead bodies, save the bodies of those whom he himself has slain.

HEROD The moon has a strange look to-night. Has she not a strange look? She is like a mad woman, a mad woman who is seeking everywhere for lovers.

She shows herself naked in the sky. She reels through the clouds like a drunken woman. …

HEROD I tell you there is a wind that blows. … And I hear in the air something that is like the beating of wings, like the beating of vast wings. Do you not hear it?

HERODIAS My daughter and I come of a royal race. As for thee, thy father was a camel driver! He was also a robber!

HERODIAS Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man is for ever vomiting insults against me.

I do not believe in prophets. Can a man tell what will come to pass?

no man knoweth if Elias the prophet did indeed see God. Peradventure it was but the shadow of God that he saw.

God is at no time hidden. He showeth Himself at all times and in everything. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.

God is terrible; He breaketh the strong and the weak as a man brays corn in a mortar.

THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN So the day is come, the day of the Lord, and I hear upon the mountains the feet of Him who shall be the Saviour of the world. HEROD What does that mean? The Saviour of the world. TIGELLINUS It is a title that Cæsar takes. HEROD But Cæsar is not coming into Judæa. Only yesterday I received letters from Rome. They contained nothing concerning this matter.

But Cæsar cannot come. He is too gouty. They say that his feet are like the feet of an elephant.

HERODIAS Ho! ho! miracles! I do not believe in miracles. I have seen too many.

SECOND NAZARENE There is also the miracle of the daughter of Jairus. FIRST NAZARENE Yes, that is sure. No man can gainsay it. HERODIAS These men are mad. They have looked too long on the moon. Command them to be silent.

HEROD I do not wish Him to do that. I forbid Him to do that. I allow no man to raise the dead. This Man must be found and told that I forbid Him to raise the dead. Where is this Man at present? SECOND NAZARENE He is in every place, my lord, but it is hard to find Him.

This prophet talks like a drunken man … but I cannot suffer the sound of his voice. I hate his voice. Command him to be silent. HEROD I will not. I cannot understand what it is that he saith, but it may be an omen. HERODIAS I do not believe in omens. He speaks like a drunken man. HEROD It may be he is drunk with the wine of God.

Dance for me, Salomé, I beseech you. If you dance for me you may ask of me what you will, and I will give it you, even unto the half of my kingdom.

There is an icy wind, and I hear … wherefore do I hear in the air this beating of wings? Ah! one might fancy a bird, a huge black bird that hovers over the terrace. Why can I not see it, this bird? The beat of its wings is terrible. The breath of the wind of its wings is terrible. It is a chill wind. Nay, but it is not cold, it is hot. I am choking.

Your little feet will be like white doves. They will be like little white flowers that dance upon the trees. … No, no, she is going to dance on blood. There is blood spilt on the ground. She must not dance on blood. It were an evil omen.

Let us go within. You are sick. They will say at Rome that you are mad.

It is for mine own pleasure that I ask the head of Jokanaan in a silver charger. You hath sworn, Herod. Forget not that you have sworn an oath.

I will give you fifty of my peacocks. They will follow you whithersoever you go, and in the midst of them you will be like the moon in the midst of a great white cloud. …

This man comes perchance from God. He is a holy man. The finger of God has touched him. God has put into his mouth terrible words. In the palace as in the desert God is always with him. … At least it is possible. One does not know. It is possible that God is for him and with him. Furthermore, if he died some misfortune might happen to me. In any case, he said that the day he dies a misfortune will happen to some one. That could only be to me.

I have onyxes like the eyeballs of a dead woman.

I have three wondrous turquoises. He who wears them on his forehead can imagine things which are not,

Wherefore did I give my oath? Kings ought never to pledge their word. If they keep it not, it is terrible, and if they keep it, it is terrible also.

Come hither, thou wert the friend of him who is dead, is it not so? Well, I tell thee, there are not dead men enough.

And thy tongue, that was like a red snake darting poison, it moves no more, it says nothing now, Jokanaan, that scarlet viper that spat its venom upon me. It is strange, is it not? How is it that the red viper stirs no longer? …

put out the torches. I will not look at things, I will not suffer things to look at me. Put out the torches! Hide the moon! Hide the stars! Let us hide ourselves in our palace, Herodias. I begin to be afraid. [The slaves put out the torches. The stars disappear. A great black cloud crosses the moon and conceals it completely. The stage becomes very dark.

[A moonbeam falls on Salomé covering her with light.]