Read Oscar Wilde’s SALOMÉ (1-66) and answer the discussion post in your own words. Write a paragraph 6-8 sentences minimum.
Discussion Question:
1.From the very opening lines of Wilde’s Salome, there is repeated reference to the moon by a number of different characters. For example:
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. One might fancy she was looking for dead things. (1)
SALOME
How good to see the moon! She is like a little piece of money, a little silver flower. She
is cold and chaste. I am sure she is a virgin. Yes, she is a virgin. She has never defiled herself. She has never abandoned herself to men, like the other goddesses. (11)
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 is naked too. She is quite naked. The clouds are seeking to clothe her nakedness, but she will not let them. She reels through the clouds like a drunken woman… I am sure she is looking for lovers. Does she not reel like a drunken woman? She is like a mad woman, is she not? (27-28)
HERODIAS
No; the moon is like the moon, that is all. Let us go within…We have nothing to do here. (28)
What do you think is the significance of these observations about the moon? When you take the play as a whole into consideration, what is the impact of these strangely poetic statements (except for Herodias’ comment!) about the moon? Who or what is addressed by these utterances? Perhaps the audience learns something about the speakers through these comments – and if so, what do we learn?
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