Salome

Wilde uses the moon as a multivalent symbol throughout Salomé to represent the allure and danger of beauty. Nearly every character in the play comments upon the appearance of the moon when they first enter the scene. In the first conversation between the Young Syrian and the Page of Herodias, the Page compares the moon to a dead woman while the Young Syrian suggests that the moon reminds him of the princess Salomé. When Salomé enters the scene, she initially compares the moon to a coin, a flower, and to feminine chastity. However, once she sees and begins to desire Jokanaan, she begins to see him as like the moon. His pale skin reminds her of the moon’s chastity, and she says that his black eyes reminds her of “black lakes troubled by fantastic moons” (18). The language suggests that Jokanaan is troubled by a moon, suggesting that Salomé’s reflection in his gaze is what is troubling him. This initial scene affiliates the moon with a desirable yet aloof person who is beautiful and yet chaste.

When Herod enters the scene, he also compares the moon to a licentious woman, announcing “the moon has a strange look to-night.