Victorian Visual Culture

Prior to this class I was familiar with the story of John the Baptist, but I had never heard of Oscar Wilde’s retelling of the story in his play Salomé. The themes of the dangers of the gaze and obsessive desire were clear throughout, and the play was rich with symbolism. A symbol that particularly stood out to me was the moon and how it connected to Salomé.

The very beginning of the play immediately connects Salomé to the moon and to death. The play begins with an interaction between the Young Syrian and the Page of Herodias, who are standing on a balcony under the moonlight. The opening goes as follows:

THE YOUNG SYRIAN

How beautiful is the Princess Salomé to-night!

THE PAGE OF HERODIAS

Look at the moon! How strange the moon seems! She is like a woman rising from a tomb. She is like a dead woman. You would fancy she was looking for dead things.

THE YOUNG SYRIAN

She has a strange look. She is like a little princess who wears a yellow veil, and whose feet are of silver. She is like a princess who has little white doves for feet. You would fancy she was dancing.

THE PAGE OF HERODIAS

She is like a woman who is dead. She moves very slowly.

These are the first lines of dialogue and serve as our introduction to Princess Salomé, and they indicate that the moon will be an important symbol closely linked to Princess Salomé throughout the play. The way in which the Princess Salomé and the moon are introduced mirror each other in form; both are exclamations about a property of the subject, in the case of Salomé her beauty and in the case of the moon her strangeness. The moon has often been associated with femininity throughout history and in literary works, but in this play the decision to gender the moon as female further links her with Salomé. 

When the Young Syrian responds to the Page saying “She has a strange look”, the antecedent of “She” is not clearly established; is he talking about Salomé or the moon? If he is describing Salomé, who is a Princess and who has already been referred to in the play as “the Princess Salomé”, why does he say “She is like a little princess” rather than “She is a little princess”? That he uses a simile here could mean that he is referring to the moon and comparing the moon to a little princess dancing. However the Young Syrian began the play with an exclamation about the Princess Salomé, and this is his next line of dialogue, which suggests that the Princess Salomé is the subject of his description. The ambiguity of the Young Syrian’s phrasing and description serve to further associate Salomé with the moon.

The Page’s next line of dialogue begins in a similar manner, saying “She is like a woman who is dead.” The Page had previously described the moon as being like a dead woman which indicates that he is again referring to the moon here, but because he begins with “She” without giving a clear antecedent, it’s possible he is now referring to Salomé. Even if he is not referring to Salomé here, the mention of the Princess by the Young Syrian alongside the description of the ominous death-like qualities of the moon entwines Salomé closely with death, foreshadowing what is to come.

There are no stage directions given as to where the Young Syrian and the Page are looking when they say these lines, leaving it up to interpretation and further convoluting the true meaning of the characters’ words. The ambiguity of this opening dialogue feels very intentional to me, and when first reading the play the clear link between Salomé and death made me suspect she would die in the end (which she does, covered in moonlight). It also indicated to me that I should keep close track of any mention of the moon throughout the play and think about how it could relate to Salomé.

Salomé herself talks about the moon later in the play, saying “I am sure she is a virgin, she has a virgin’s beauty…She has never defiled herself. She has never abandoned herself to men, like the other goddesses.” Salomé says this shortly after revealing that the Tetrarch, who is technically her father, looks at her in a lustful way and that she had to leave the banquet to avoid his gaze. Her subsequent emphasis on the chasteness and purity of the moon, which is a symbol already associated with her, indicates that she also considers herself to be pure and that she has no intentions of engaging with the Tetrarch. 

However Salomé’s fixation on purity turns into a darker obsession when she becomes infatuated with Jokanaan, the prophet John the Baptist. Salomé compares Jokanaan to the moon, saying “I am sure he is chaste as the moon is. He is like a moonbeam, like a shaft of silver.” In ascribing to Jokanaan the perceived purity of the moon, Salomé reveals that her own purity is morphing into a sexual desire, evident by her next words: “His flesh must be cool like ivory. I would look closer at him.” She then goes on to express her desire for Jokanaan repeatedly while he continuously refuses her advances. 

Later, just before Salomé dances the dance of the seven veils and is rewarded with the head of Jokanaan the moon is described as becoming “red as blood”. The dance is a pivotal moment in the play for multiple reasons. By agreeing to dance for the Tetrarch Salomé consents to having his gaze upon her, something she expressed displeasure about and repeatedly avoided previously. The dance is also what allows Salomé to satiate her desire for Jokanaan as she is rewarded with his severed head, which she is then able to kiss. That the moon turned from a pure white to the red of blood prior to this moment indicates to me Salomé’s surrender to her obsessive desires even at the cost of her own personal morals.

The moon is a complex symbol in this play, and while it is certainly associated with Salomé and her desire it also has many associations with other characters and other meanings. This play has so many layers of symbolism that it’s impossible to understand it all in one reading, and I’d like to look at what other symbolic functions the moon has in the play in future readings.

Source:

Wilde, Oscar. “Salomé.” The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salomé, by Oscar Wilde., http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42704/42704-h/42704-h.htm. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.