SALOMÉ
A TRAGEDY IN ONE ACT:
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF
OSCAR WILDE,
WITH SIXTEEN DRAWINGS BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY, MCMVII
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY.
HEROD ANTIPAS, TETRARCH OF JUDÆA.
JOKANAAN, THE PROPHET.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN, CAPTAIN of the GUARD.
TIGELLINUS, A YOUNG ROMAN.
A CAPPADOCIAN.
A NUBIAN.
FIRST SOLDIER.
SECOND SOLDIER.
THE PAGE OF HERODIAS.
JEWS, NAZARENES, ETC.
A SLAVE.
NAAMAN, THE EXECUTIONER.
HERODIAS, WIFE OF THE TETRARCH.
SALOMÉ, DAUGHTER OF HERODIAS.
THE SLAVES OF SALOMÉ.
A NOTE ON "SALOMÉ."
"SALOMÉ" has made the author's name a household word wherever the
English language is not spoken. Few English plays have such a
peculiar history. Written in French in 1892 it was in full
rehearsal by Madame Bernhardt at the Palace Theatre when it was
prohibited by the Censor. Oscar Wilde immediately announced his
intention of changing his nationality, a characteristic jest,
which was only taken seriously, oddly enough, in Ireland. The
interference of the Censor has seldom been more popular or more
heartily endorsed by English critics. On its publication in book
form "Salomé" was greeted by a chorus of ridicule, and it may be
noted in passing that at least two of the more violent reviews
were from the pens of unsuccessful dramatists, while all those
whose French never went beyond Ollendorff were glad to find in
that venerable school classic an unsuspected asset in their
education--a handy missile with which to pelt "Salomé" and its
author. The correctness of the French was, of course, impugned,
although the scrip had been passed by a distinguished French
writer, to whom I have heard the whole work attributed. The
Times, while depreciating the drama, gave its author credit for
a _tour de force_, in being capable of writing a French play for
Madame Bernhardt, and this drew from him the following letter:--
The Times, Thursday, March 2, 1893, p. 4.
MR. OSCAR WILDE ON "SALOMÉ."
To the Editor of The Times.
Sir, My attention has been drawn to a review of
"Salomé" which was published in your columns last
week. The opinions of English critics on a French work
of mine have, of course, little, if any, interest for
me. I write simply to ask you to allow me to correct a
misstatement that appears in the review in question.
The fact that the greatest tragic actress of any stage
now living saw in my play such beauty that she was
anxious to produce it, to take herself the part of the
heroine, to lend to the entire poem the glamour of her
personality, and to my prose the music of her
flute-like voice--this was naturally, and always will
be, a source of pride and pleasure to me, and I look
forward with delight to seeing Mme. Bernhardt present
my play in Paris, that vivid centre of art, where
religious dramas are often performed. But my play was
in no sense of the words written for this great
actress. I have never written a play for any actor or
actress, nor shall I ever do so. Such work is for the
artisan in literature--not for the artist.
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
OSCAR WILDE.
When "Salomé" was translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas,
the illustrator, Aubrey Beardsley, shared some of the obloquy
heaped on Wilde. It is interesting that he should have found
inspiration for his finest work in a play he never admired and by
a writer he cordially disliked. The motives are, of course, made
to his hand, and never was there a more suitable material for
that odd tangent art in which there are no tactile values. The
amusing caricatures of Wilde which appear in the _Frontispiece_,
"Enter Herodias" and "The Eyes of Herod," are the only pieces of
vraisemblance in these exquisite designs. The colophon is a real
masterpiece and a witty criticism of the play as well.
On the production of "Salomé" by the New Stage Club in May,
1905,[1] the dramatic critics again expressed themselves
vehemently, vociferating their regrets that the play had been
dragged from its obscurity. The obscure drama, however, had
become for five years past part of the literature of Europe. It
is performed regularly or intermittently in Holland, Sweden,
Italy, France, and Russia, and it has been translated into every
European language, including the Czech. It forms part of the
repertoire of the German stage, where it is performed more often
than any play by any English writer except Shakespeare. Owing,
perhaps, to what I must call its _obscure_ popularity in the
continental theatres, Dr. Strauss was preparing his remarkable
opera at the very moment when there appeared the criticisms to
which I refer, and since the production of the opera in Dresden
in December, 1905, English musical journalists and correspondents
always refer to the work as founded on Wilde's drama. That is the
only way in which they can evade an awkward truth--a palpable
contravention to their own wishes and theories. The music,
however, has been set to the actual words of "Salomé" in Madame
Hedwig Lachmann's admirable translation. The words have not been
transfigured into ordinary operatic nonsense to suit the score,
or the susceptibilities of the English people. I observe that
admirers of Dr. Strauss are a little mortified that the great
master should have found an occasion for composition in a play
which they long ago consigned to oblivion and the shambles of
Aubrey Beardsley. Wilde himself, in a rhetorical period, seems to
have contemplated the possibility of his prose drama for a
musical theme. In "De Profundis" he says: "The refrains, whose
recurring motifs make 'Salomé' so like a piece of music, and bind
it together as a ballad."
He was still incarcerated in 1896, when Mons. Luigne Poë produced
the play for the first time at the Théâtre Libre in Paris, with
Lina Muntz in the title role. A rather pathetic reference to this
occasion occurs in a letter Wilde wrote to me from Reading:--
"Please say how gratified I was at the performance of my play,
and have my thanks conveyed to Luigne Poë. It is something that
at a time of disgrace and shame I should still be regarded as an
artist. I wish I could feel more pleasure, but I seem dead to all
emotions except those of anguish and despair. However, please let
Luigne Poë know that I am sensible of the honour he has done me.
He is a poet himself. Write to me in answer to this, and try and
see what Lemaitre, Bauer, and Sarcey said of 'Salomé.'"
The bias of personal friendship precludes me from praising or
defending "Salomé," even if it were necessary to do so. Nothing I
might say would add to the reputation of its detractors. Its
sources are obvious; particularly Flaubert and Maeterlinck, in
whose peculiar and original style it is an essay. A critic, for
whom I have a greater regard than many of his contemporaries,
says that "Salomé" is only a catalogue; but a catalogue can be
intensely dramatic, as we know when the performance takes place
at Christie's; few plays are more exciting than an auction in
King Street when the stars are fighting _for_ Sisera.
It has been remarked that Wilde confuses Herod the Great (_Mat._
xi. 1), Herod Antipas (_Mat._ xiv. 3), and Herod Agrippa (Acts
xiii), but the confusion is intentional, as in mediæval mystery
plays Herod is taken for a type, not an historical character, and
the criticism is about as valuable as that of people who
laboriously point out the anachronisms in Beardsley's designs.
With reference to the charge of plagiarism brought against
"Salomé" and its author, I venture to mention a personal
recollection.
Wilde complained to me one day that someone in a well-known novel
had stolen an idea of his. I pleaded in defence of the culprit
that Wilde himself was a fearless literary thief. "My dear
fellow," he said, with his usual drawling emphasis, "when I see a
monstrous tulip with four wonderful petals in someone else's
garden, I am impelled to grow a monstrous tulip with five
wonderful petals, but that is no reason why someone should grow a
tulip with only three petals." THAT WAS OSCAR WILDE.
ROBERT ROSS.
[1] A more recent performance of "Salomé" (1906), by the Literary
Theatre Club, has again produced an ebullition of rancour and
deliberate misrepresentation on the part of the dramatic critics,
the majority of whom are anxious to parade their ignorance of the
continental stage. The production was remarkable on account of
the beautiful dresses and mounting, for which Mr. Charles
Ricketts was responsible, and the marvellous impersonation of
Herod by Mr. Robert Farquharson. Wilde used to say that "Salomé"
was a mirror in which everyone could see himself. The artist,
art; the dull, dulness; the vulgar, vulgarity.
LIST OF THE PICTURES BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY.
1. THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. 2. TITLE PAGE. 3. COVER DESIGN. 4. LIST
OF THE PICTURES. 5. THE PEACOCK SKIRT. 6. THE BLACK CAPE. 7. A
PLATONIC LAMENT. 8. JOHN AND SALOMÉ. 9. ENTER HERODIAS. 10. THE
EYES OF HEROD. 11. THE STOMACH DANCE. 12. THE TOILETTE OF
SALOMÉ--I. 13. THE TOILETTE OF SALOMÉ--II. 14. THE DANCER'S
REWARD. 15. THE CLIMAX. 16. CUL DE LAMPE.
* * * * *
Cast of the Performance of "Salomé," represented in England for
the first time.
NEW STAGE CLUB.
"SALOMÉ,"
BY OSCAR WILDE.
May 10th and 13th 1905.
A YOUNG SYRIAN CAPTAIN -- MR. HERBERT ALEXANDER.
PAGE OF HERODIAS -- MRS. GWENDOLEN BISHOP.
FIRST SOLDIER -- MR. CHARLES GEE.
SECOND SOLDIER -- MR. RALPH DE ROHAN.
CAPPADOCIAN -- MR. CHARLES DALMON.
JOKANAAN -- MR. VINCENT NELLO.
NAAMAN, THE EXECUTIONER-- MR. W. EVELYN OSBORN.
SALOMÉ -- Miss MILLICENT MURBY.
SLAVE -- Miss CARRIE KEITH.
HEROD -- MR. ROBERT FARQUHARSON.
HERODIAS -- Miss LOUISE SALOM.
TIGELLINUS -- MR. C.L. DELPH.
SLAVE -- Miss STANSFELD.
FIRST JEW -- MR. F. STANLEY SMITH.
SECOND JEW -- MR. BERNHARD SMITH.
THIRD JEW -- MR. JOHN BATE.
FOURTH JEW -- STEPHEN BAGEHOT
FIFTH JEW -- FREDERICK LAWRENCE.
Scene--THE GREAT TERRACE OUTSIDE THE PALACE.
* * * * *
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!
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.
[_Noise in the banqueting-hall._]
FIRST SOLDIER
What an uproar! Who are those wild beasts howling?
SECOND SOLDIER
The Jews. They are always like that. They are disputing about
their religion.
FIRST SOLDIER
Why do they dispute about their religion?
SECOND SOLDIER