Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act

About the book

Wilde's one-act tragedy gathers its characters around the voice of Jokanaan, a prophet imprisoned beneath Herod's court. Salomé's wish to see him develops into a confrontation shaped by rejection, while Herod's attention to her introduces another unstable relation of desire and power. Repeated descriptions of the moon, bodies, and colours give the dialogue an incantatory quality: different speakers appear to inhabit the same scene through incompatible images. The action is compact, but its atmosphere depends on hesitation, watching, and the pressure of words spoken too insistently. This English version of a play originally written in French includes introductory discussion of its history. Reading it aloud brings out the deliberate repetitions through which the characters try to make another person answer their wishes.

• Desire and refusal
• Power
• Seeing and interpretation

Why read it

For a concentrated drama whose imagery and repetitions make a small enclosed setting feel increasingly dangerous.

English translation of the French one-act play