How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
SALOMÉ I will not stay. I cannot stay. Why does the Tetrarch look at me all the while with his mole's eyes under his shaking eyelids? It is strange that the husband of my mother looks at me like that. I know not what it means. Of a truth I know it too well. (68)
However innocent Salomé may be, even if she doesn't lust, she still knows what lust looks like.
Quote #2
SALOMÉ Thou wilt do this thing for me, Narraboth, and to-morrow when I pass in my litter beneath the gateway of the idol-sellers I will let fall for thee a little flower, a little green flower.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN Princess, I cannot, I cannot.
SALOMÉ [Smiling.] Thou wilt do this thing for me, Narraboth. Thou knowest that thou wilt do this thing for me. And on the morrow when I shall pass in my litter by the bridge of the idol-buyers, I will look at thee through the muslin veils, I will look at thee, Narraboth, it may be I will smile at thee. Look at me, Narraboth, look at me. Ah! thou knowest that thou wilt do what I ask of thee. Thou knowest it… I know that thou wilt do this thing. (111-114)
Here, again, we see that Salomé is a skilled temptress whether or not she's chaste.
Quote #3
JOKANAAN Where is she who saw the images of men painted on the walls, even the images of the Chaldæans painted with colours, and gave herself up unto the lust of her eyes, and sent ambassadors into the land of Chaldæa?
SALOMÉ It is of my mother that he is speaking.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN Oh no, Princess.
SALOME Yes: it is of my mother that he is speaking. (121-4)
Salomé seems to take a strange pleasure in hearing her mother called a harlot.
Quote #4
SALOMÉ How wasted he is! He is like a thin ivory statue. He is like an image of silver. I am sure he is chaste, as the moon is. He is like a moonbeam, like a shaft of silver. His flesh must be very cold, cold as ivory… I would look closer at him.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN No, no, Princess! (130-1)
Salomé seems to be attracted by Jokanaan's purity; she's turned on by his chastity. The Syrian, in his innocence, seems totally unable to handle anything approximating lust.
Quote #5
SALOMÉ Speak again! Speak again, Jokanaan, and tell me what I must do.
JOKANAAN Daughter of Sodom, come not near me! But cover thy face with a veil, and scatter ashes upon thine head, and get thee to the desert, and seek out the Son of Man.
SALOMÉ Who is he, the Son of Man? Is he as beautiful as thou art, Jokanaan? (137-9)
Salomé, in her passion, finds a way to sexualize Jokanaan's calls for repentance. The Son of Man, her potential savior, becomes another sexual object.
Quote #6
SALOMÉ There is nothing in the world so white as thy body. Suffer me to touch thy body.
JOKANAAN Back! daughter of Babylon! By woman came evil into the world. Speak not to me. I will not listen to thee. I listen but to the voice of the Lord God. (145-146)
Jokanaan's purity, his disgust at anything sensual, seems to spring from his understanding of Original Sin. He blames women for bringing sin into the world and cannot look past that first, fateful error.
Quote #7
SALOMÉ It is like the bow of the King of the Persians, that is painted with vermilion, and is tipped with coral. There is nothing in the world so red as thy mouth… Suffer me to kiss thy mouth.
JOKANAAN Never! daughter of Babylon! Daughter of Sodom! never!
SALOMÉ I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan. I will kiss thy mouth. (149-151)
Salomé's threat, which, frankly seems a bit childish—what's wrong with one little kiss?—is made terrible and intimidating by its intensity.
Quote #8
SALOMÉ Oh, how I loved thee! I love thee yet, Jokanaan. I love only thee… I am athirst for thy beauty; I am hungry for thy body; and neither wine nor apples can appease my desire. What shall I do now, Jokanaan? Neither the floods nor the great waters can quench my passion. (375)
There is something intensely physical about Salomé's desire—she truly hungers for his flesh. Her passion goes beyond simple metaphors.
Quote #9
SALOMÉ I was a princess, and thou didst scorn me. I was a virgin, and thou didst take my virginity from me. I was chaste, and thou didst fill my veins with fire… Ah! ah! wherefore didst thou not look at me? If thou hadst looked at me thou hadst loved me. Well I know that thou wouldst have loved me, and the mystery of Love is greater than the mystery of Death. (375)
Though her claim "the mystery of Love is greater than the mystery of Death" may sound romantic, the love Salomé speaks of is not; it is physical and sexual.
Quote #10
THE VOICE OF SALOMÉ Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on thy lips. Was it the taste of blood?... Nay; but perchance it was the taste of love… They say that love hath a bitter taste. But what matter? what matter? I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. (380)
Salomé, having never known love, is left to puzzle over its true character. She can never know whether she has really tasted it.