Salome

“How beautiful is the Princess Salomé to-night!”

The first line of the play is both a rhetorical question and a declarative statement that introduces the theme of beauty. By having the Young Syrian’s phrase begin with an interrogative term, “how,” Wilde sets up the idea that beauty is subjective rather than objective. Salomé’s beauty will lead to the Young Syrian’s death, and Herod will eventually find her horrific rather than beautiful due to her actions, suggesting that beauty is an ambiguous category.

“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 dialogue employs repetition, having characters restate the same terms with different word order, creating an unnatural emphasis upon particular symbolic traits. Here, Salomé’s paleness is both the natural result of her anxiety at the banquet, but also a symbolic connection to the moon, to chastity, and to the idea of vanity which is traditionally represented by a mirror. The simile compares Salomé to various white objects that are associated with female beauty, indicating that her discomfort does not detract from her aesthetic qualities.