Salomé

Salome is a one-act tragedy written by Oscar Wilde and originally published in 1891. It was originally written in French and performed in Paris in 1894.

Drawing on the biblical tale, it unfolds in Herod’s palace, where a young princess becomes fascinated with the imprisoned prophet and the mysteries he embodies. When her desire is spurned, she performs the famous dance before the tetrarch to win a promise of any reward she chooses. Her demand brings the court to a standstill and sets in motion a grim bargain that ends in desire turning into destruction and power revealing its darkest edges.

Wilde shapes the story as a symbolist dream, saturated with sensuous imagery and ritual repetition—the moon, silver, and the gaze—while exploring obsession, purity, and corruption. The result is a drama where beauty and horror entwine, and where the price of longing becomes irrevocably clear.

Noted for its lush, incantatory language and bold reimagining of sacred material, the play has provoked controversy and censorship since its debut. Today it remains a landmark of fin-de-siècle theater, celebrated for its mythic intensity and decadent allure.

"SCENE.—A great terrace in the Palace of Herod, set above the banqueting-hall. Some soldiers are leaning over the balcony. To the right there is a gigantic staircase, to the left, at the back, an old
cistern surrounded by a wall of green bronze. Moonlight.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN
How beautiful is the Princess Salomé to-night!"