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University ofCalifornia
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FROM THE ESTATE OF

GEORGE JAFFE

SALOME

SALOME
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
HEROD
ANTIPAS, Tetrarch of
Prophet.

PLAY.

Judaea.

JOKANAAN, The

THE YOUNGSYRIAN,

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.
of the Tetrarch.
of Herodias.

HERODIAS, Wife

SALOME, Daughter

THE SLAVES OF SALOME.

A NOTE ON "SALOME."
English lanis not spoken. Few English plays guage have such apeculiar 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

"QALOME" has made the author's household word wherever the

^

name

a

enough, in Ireland. Theinterference of the Censor has seldom been more popular or more heartily endorsed by English critics. On its publication in " book form " Salome 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 venerableschool classic an una handy suspected asset in their education " missile with which to pelt " Salome 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

—

xiii

tour deforce, in beingcapable 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 "Salome."

To

" of " Salome which was published in your columns The opinions of English critics on a last week. French work of mine have, of course, little, if any, I write simply to ask you to allow interest forme. 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 sourceof 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....