Salomé (eBook)

Oscar Wilde (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
96 Seiten
Renard Press (Verlag)
978-1-913724-40-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Salomé, the haunting one-act tragedy that marks Wilde's first great success in the theatre, retells the Biblical story in which the stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas demands the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for her dancing for her stepfather's amusement. Written in 1891, and prepared for its first run in 1892, rehearsals of Salomé had to be cancelled when the play was banned by the Lord Chamberlain due to its depiction of religious characters. Undaunted, Wilde moved on to the drawing-room and society comedies he is today best known for, wowing London audiences with Lady Windermere's Fan and A Woman of No Importance, and it was only in 1894 that Salomé saw the light of day in an English translation, with a series of specially commissioned illustrations by the up-and-coming Aubrey Beardsley.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an author, poet and one of the best-known playwrights in the English canon, best remembered for his novel Dorian Gray and his plays - particularly The Importance of Being Earnest.

Textauszug

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. The moon is shining very brightly.

the young syrian: How beautiful is the Princess Salome tonight!

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. One might 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. One might 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: I cannot tell. They are always doing it. The Pharisees, for instance, say that there are angels, and the Sadducees declare that angels do not exist.

first soldier: I think it is ridiculous to dispute about such things.

the young syrian: How beautiful is the Princess Salome tonight!

the page of herodias: You are always looking at her. You look at her too much. It is dangerous to look at people in such fashion. Something terrible may happen.

the young syrian: She is very beautiful tonight.

first soldier: The Tetrarch has a sombre aspect.

second soldier: Yes – he has a sombre aspect.

first soldier: He is looking at something.

second soldier: He is looking at someone.

first soldier: At whom is he looking?

second soldier: I cannot tell.

the young syrian: How pale the Princess is! Never have I seen her so pale. She is like the shadow of a white rose in a mirror of silver.

the page of herodias: You must not look at her. You look too much at her.

first soldier: Herodias has filled the cup of the Tetrarch.

the cappadocian: Is that the Queen Herodias, she who wears a black mitre sewed with pearls, and whose hair is powdered with blue dust?

first soldier: Yes, that is Herodias – the Tetrarch’s wife.

second soldier: The Tetrarch is very fond of wine. He has wine of three sorts. One which is brought from the island of Samothrace and is purple like the cloak of Caesar.

the cappadocian: I have never seen Caesar.

second soldier: Another that comes from a town called Cyprus, and is as yellow as gold.

the cappadocian: I love gold.

second soldier: And the third is a wine of Sicily. That wine is as red as blood.

the nubian: The gods of my country are very fond of blood. Twice in the year we sacrifice to them young men and maidens: fifty young men and a hundred maidens. But I am afraid that we never give them quite enough, for they are very harsh to us.

the cappadocian: In my country there are no gods left. The Romans have driven them out. There are some who say that they have hidden themselves in the mountains, but I do not believe it. Three nights I have been on the mountains seeking them everywhere. I did not find them. And at last I called them by their names and they did not come. I think they are dead.

first soldier: The Jews worship a God that one cannot see.

the cappadocian: I cannot understand that.

first soldier: In fact, they only believe in things that one cannot see.

the cappadocian: That seems to me altogether ridiculous.

the voice of jokanaan: After me shall come another mightier than I. I am not worthy so much as to unloose the latchet of his shoes. When he cometh, the solitary places shall be glad. They shall blossom like the rose. The eyes of the blind shall see the day, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened. The suckling child shall put his hand upon the dragon’s lair; he shall lead the lions by their manes.

second soldier: Make him be silent. He is always saying ridiculous things.

first soldier: No, no. He is a holy man. He is very gentle, too. Every day when I give him to eat he thanks me.

the cappadocian: Who is he?

first soldier: A prophet.

the cappadocian: What is his name?

first soldier: Jokanaan.

the cappadocian: Whence comes he?

first soldier: From the desert, where he fed on locusts and wild honey. He was clothed in camel’s hair, and round his loins he had a leathern belt. He was very terrible to look upon. A great multitude used to follow him. He even had disciples.*

the cappadocian: What is he talking of?

first soldier: We can never tell. Sometimes he says things that affright one, but it is impossible to understand what he says.

the cappadocian: May one see him?

first soldier: No. The Tetrarch has forbidden it.

the young syrian: The Princess has hidden her face behind her fan! Her little white hands are fluttering like doves that fly to their dovecots. They are like white butterflies. They are just like white butterflies.

the page of herodias: What is that to you? Why do you look at her? You must not look at her… something terrible may happen.

the cappadocian (pointing to the cistern): What a strange prison!

second soldier: It is an old cistern.

the cappadocian: An old cistern! That must be a poisonous place in which to dwell!

second soldier: Oh, no! For instance, the Tetrarch’s brother, his elder brother, the first husband of Herodias the Queen, was imprisoned there for twelve years. It did not kill him. At the end of the twelve years he had to be strangled.

the cappadocian: Strangled? Who dared to do that?

second soldier (pointing to the executioner, a huge Negro): That man yonder, Naaman.

the cappadocian: He was not afraid?

second soldier: Oh, no! The Tetrarch sent him the ring.

the cappadocian: What ring?

second soldier: The death ring. So he was not afraid.

the cappadocian: Yet it is a terrible thing to strangle a king.

first soldier: Why? Kings have but one neck, like other folk.

the cappadocian: I think it terrible.

the young syrian: The Princess is getting up! She is leaving the table! She looks very troubled. Ah, she is coming this way. Yes, she is coming towards us. How pale she is! Never have I seen her so pale.

the page of herodias: Do not look at her. I pray you not to look at her.

the...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.1.2021
• Verlagsort: Lodnon
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik ► Dramatik / Theater
• Schlagworte: Beardsley • Classic • Dance of the Seven Veils • Illustrated • John the Baptist • LGBTQ • Playscript • Salome
• ISBN-10: 1-913724-40-9 / 1913724409
• ISBN-13: 978-1-913724-40-5 / 9781913724405