“It is thy mouth that I desire, Iokanaan. Thy mouth is like a band of scarlet on a tower of ivory. It is like a pomegranate cut in twain with a knife of ivory. The pomegranate flowers that blossom in the gardens of Tyre, and are redder than roses, are not so red. The red blasts of trumpets that herald the approach of kings, and make afraid the enemy, are not so red. Thy mouth is redder than the feet of those who tread the wine in the wine-press. It is redder than the feet of the doves who inhabit the temples and are fed by the priests. It is redder than the feet of him who cometh from a forest where he hath slain a lion, and seen gilded tigers. Thy mouth is like a branch of coral that fishers have found in the twilight of the sea, the coral that they keep for the kings!…It is like the vermilion that the Moabites find in the mines of Moab, the vermilion that the kings take from them. It is like the bow of the King of the Persians, that is painted with vermilion, and is tipped with coral. There is nothing in the world so red as thy mouth….Suffer me to kiss thy mouth. […]I will kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan. I will kiss thy mouth.”
Ardent, over-the-top love poetry? Not exactly.
The quotation comes from Oscar Wilde’s play, Salome, which is a retelling of the story of the beheading of John the Baptist. Iokanaan is John. The speaker is Salome, step-daughter of Herod. Iokanaan has been imprisoned by Herod. Herodias, Herod’s wife and Salome’s mother, hates Iokanaan because he has been loudly and publicly condemning her behavior. So far, the story closely follows that of the gospels.
But, of course Wilde would never just write an adaptation of a Biblical story for the purpose of inspiring faithful Christians. The twist? Salome desperately tries to seduce Iokanaan. She has him hauled out of the cistern where he is imprisoned and launches into a lengthy seduction routine. Iokanaan is unmoved. Herod then wanders in; he is a bit drunk and heads out from his party to get some air. He asks Salome to dance for him. Herodias vehemently objects; she doesn’t like the way Herod looks at her daughter. Salome dances the Dance of the Seven Veils. Herod, completely besotted and rather aroused, promises to give her whatever she asks. Salome demands the head of Iokanaan. Note: she does not consult her mother here. She wants the head for herself. Herod reluctantly agrees.
Salome gets the head. “Ah! Thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan. Well! I will kiss it now. I will bite it with my teeth as one bites a ripe fruit. Yes, I will kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan.[…]Ah! I have kissed thy mouth. Iokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on thy lips. Was it the taste of blood?…Nay, but perchance it was the taste of love.”
Seeing Salome fervently kissing the still bleeding head is a bit much for even Herod. He calls out to his soldiers “Kill that woman!” They do. End of play.
Do you want to watch the play now? It is a very short and for the most part lightweight play. The only reason to watch it is to watch the depravity of Salome. You get to watch a woman kissing a severed head! How has this not been made into a Hollywood movie yet? (Curiously, there is a 1953 movie entitled Salome (starring Rita Hayworth), but it is not based on Wilde’s play—rather than ending with Hayworth kissing a severed head, it ends with her listening to Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount. Ah, the innocent 1950s.)
If you watch Wilde’s play, you also get to see the Dance of the Seven Veils. What is that dance? You probably think it is some ancient Middle Eastern striptease. It isn’t ancient at all. Wilde just made up the title of the dance and tossed it into the play. But it sure sounds like a real dance, doesn’t it? It subsequently became a real dance. Richard Strauss liked Wilde’s play and wrote and opera based on it. The opera has a section for the Dance of the Seven Veils. Rita Hayworth does the dance in the movie! You can also watch the operatic version if you prefer.
The play was banned in England. But, it is not clear that the ban had a real effect. In Wilde’s lifetime, it was only performed twice in France. When the ban in England was eventually lifted, it didn’t exactly become a hit. It truly is a rather shallow play, relying on the shock value for its raison d’etre.
So, is this just vulgarity for the sake of shocking the rubes? Conditioned as we are in the modern age to an endless stream of shallow vulgarity, it is easy to dismiss the play as such. But, there is one aspect of the play that should give us pause before tossing it aside.
Remember Wilde’s source material. The Biblical story is also a rather shockingly vulgar affair. One of the problems with the way we read the Bible is that the horror is lost. We read this story and think that Herod is nasty guy. We remember his father, also Herod, ordered the slaughter of the innocents. The beheading of John the Baptist becomes a tale showing the apple did not fall far from the tree. Wilde didn’t invent the erotic dance leading to a head on a platter. Is right there in the New Testament. But, it seems like a much tamer story in the Bible.
Now translate that story to modern times today. A governor of one of the smaller states, Rhode Island or Wyoming, is married to his brother’s wife. A local Baptist pastor has publicly condemned the relationship. One night, the governor is hosting a dinner party at the governor’s mansion for his birthday. As entertainment for the guests, he asks his step-daughter to do a striptease. Filled with lust, the governor promises to give her whatever she wants. She asks for the head of the Baptist pastor on a platter. The head, still dripping with blood, is delivered on a platter to the girl in front of all the guests.
You think outrageous things happen in the world of politics today. I don’t care what Outrage of the Day is particularly bothersome to you. The story of Herod and John the Baptist is a whole lot worse.
People are depraved. This is not a new phenomenon. Wilde didn’t invent depravity. So, why are we still shocked when people do depraved things?
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