symbolic terminology used to depict sexual
The monologue of King Herod just earlier the Move of the Several Veils (Wilde, 50-53) shows the depth of the Kings desperate neuroses. While his intention is always to implore Salome to move for him, Herod eventually ends up delivering a capricious, repetitious, and deeply self-conscious monologue. He jumps between signs, similes, metaphors, and irregular puns, and he assumes on a tone that is instead panicky and desperate. Furthermore, his rambling address touches on a selection of topics including ominous symbols and the California king of Cappadocia tied together by the Kings nervous locura and his target of efficiently entreating his stepdaughter. The structure of this monologue and the symbolism and wordplay included define Herods position in the play being a neurotic, ineffectual person continuously in anxiety about the recognized symbols and omens about him. These kinds of fears plus the style of the monologue are inextricably associated with Herods wish to see Salomes dance wonderful psychoneurotic mother nature caused by this kind of fetish.
Herods Boogie Monologue comes after a dialogue among this individual, Herodias, and Salome in which certain topics Herod targets during the monologue were initial mentioned: the King of Cappadocia, Salomes dancing, and Iokanaans spoken prophecies. The rhythm of the monologue follows the tempo of Herods dialogue through this earlier conversation. Herod is extremely repetitious: this individual mentions certain topics by multiple junctures in his monologue, and this individual uses parallel structures in specific areas. Herod brings up Salomes dancing in for least two unconnected items, often trimming abruptly in the matter pursuing the discourse over a fully unrelated subject. On page 51, Herod cuts by a comparison of blood to rose-petals for the matter, on-page 52, he describes the gruesome demise of the King of Cappadocia, and then says, Well! Wherefore dost thou tarry, Salome? Certain signs are repeated or referenced multiple times inside the monologue as well. The color reddish as an omen is definitely discussed on page 51 and again on page 53. On-page 51, Herod frets over a huge dark-colored bird, after, on page 53, he requires comfort in Salomes little toes like white doves, a very clear version to this original symbol.
Herods dried meats dialogue and the abrupt nature of the content material of his address present him because absentminded and nervous. His repetition of certain matters makes him seem chicken, as if this individual, a full, cannot determine a matter or affect a celebration immediately. His parallel sentences and his repetition of certain exact phrases and words more immediately influence these kinds of rhythmic results. At the start of his monologue on web pages 50-51, Herod repeats both phrases 50 % of my empire and moving fair being a queen inside three successive sentences. On-page 51, he says about a bird, The beat of its wings is horrible. The breath of the wind of the wings can be terrible [Emphasis added]. The words blowing wind and wings appear 3 times apiece with this section of the monologue. Within just sentences, he dramatically repeats certain terms, such as here, on the same page: It is my own garland that hurts me personally, my garland of tulips [Emphasis added]. On page 52, this individual repeats expression in a similar manner: Although Caesar will crucify him when he concerns Rome. I realize that Caesar will crucify him [Emphasis added]. On page 53, he uses parallel similes: Thy tiny feet will probably be like white colored doves! They will be like very little white plants that boogie upon the trees.
The tempo of this part gives off a solid tone of desperation and, consequently, a great implication of any lack of self-confidence. By echoing phrases just like Caesar is going to crucify him (52), move for me (52), and half of my kingdom (50, 52), Herod is essentially verbally comforting himself of such things. This individual wants Caesar to crucify the Ruler of Cappadocia, yet simply by repeating with certainty this statement that Caesar is going to do so , Herod merely provides impression that he is uncertain about the situation. When echoing dance for me personally, and fair as a queen (50-51), Herod sounds like a kid begging pertaining to Salome, in contrast to a california king commanding her. When echoing half of my own kingdom, the King seems to absentmindedly miracle at the significant cost he can willing to pay to get Salomes party. Finally, Herod is anxious. He seems to fear that he is incorrect about Caesar crucifying the enemy king. He likewise repeats particular omens, especially terrible wings and the color red.
The replication of the Caesar line on-page 52 is particularly noteworthy as the severity of the monologue briefly shifts from this block of text. Herod almost seems to soliloquize here as he introduces a very optimistic and visual hypothetical regarding his opposing team death. The darkly extreme nature of Herods aspersions and illusion contrasts along with his hopeful, frivolous desire for Salome, and his paranoid, dramatic anxiety about omens. Herod delivers this portion of the address with an sarcastic certainty, echoing, Caesar will crucify him and saying that the telepathist has prophesied his enemys death, the moment in fact Iokanaan had prophesized the death of Herod. Herod seems to be talking to himself here, which noticeable leaving in strengthen ultimately qualified prospects the audience to cast doubt about Herods mental stability. The rambling mother nature of this portion furthermore implies Herods frustration.
Herods monologue changes back and forth among joy and fear incredibly capriciously. This individual begins on page 50 pleading Salome to dance, then he becomes anxious by a chicken and panics on page fifty-one, at last, this individual asks Salome to party one more at the end of that web page. On page 52, Herod praises his reverance, then cruelly disparages that of the Ruler of Cappadocia, then demands Salome to begin dancing. For the next webpage, he is satisfied by her naked toes, then instantly horrified by the blood on to the floor. There is, in the end, a sense of lack of stability about his character that could be gleaned using this. Herod appears easily diverted by symbolism and record. Furthermore, his condition is definitely quickly and dramatically ameliorated when he considers of Salome dancing.
The fact Herod focuses on Salome and begs her therefore strongly to dance is definitely a erotic element of his monologue. The primary features of the interaction between Herod and Salome are that he éléments her, that he reestablishes his ask for throughout, and juxtaposes ominous signs and painful thoughts with his desire. The 1st two aspects enhance the eroticism of Herods monologue. Herod essentially bribes Salome, this individual purchases an actual act via her like she were a prostitute using 50 percent his kingdom: an intimate ownership for a california king. The idea of a king asking for a lady in a plainly subservient position to dance for him heightens the suspense with the monologue and, consequently, the scenes erotic complexion. Herods constant echoing of his request dramatizes the matter.
Herod, in repeatedly desiring to see Salome dance immediately after he is threatened by an omen or perhaps bad feeling, acts in a highly infantile manner. The King is basically turning to Salome to cope with the ominous issues that he perceives about him: bloodstream on the floor, a black fowl, Iokanaan, etc . Herod can be described as sort of psychoneurotic. He perceives symbols and bad omens all around him, he frequently and desperately repeats what he says, and he is, in lots of ways, a finicky, cowardly hypochondriac. He is irritated by the wintry wind and noise from a dark-colored bird he cannot find, then he admits that, Nay, however it is not cold, it truly is hot. I actually am choking. Pour water on my hands. Give me snow to eat. Loosen my mantle. Quick! speedy! loosen my mantle. T?i, but let it stay (51). Herod then tears off his garland of roses and inexplicably even comes close the color of such flowers to blood. Herod also deludes himself in to thinking Iokanaans prophecy is made for a ruler other than he, one to which he claims to become superior. But Herod, in boasting, I realize not how to lie (52), sounds unconfident and inaccurate by this reason for the monologue. He telephone calls the Full of Cappadocia a coward, yet Herod comes off as a the case coward inside the scene.
Freud produces in Dora All psychoneurotics are individuals with highly marked unhelpful ? awkward ? obstructive ? uncooperative tendencies, which have been repressed throughout their development and have turn into unconscious (43). Herods perverse tendency can be, perhaps, to see Salome move. He presents her 50 percent his kingdom not for sexual intercourse, but simply to watch her dance. Barthes writes that a striptease is definitely, itself, a separate erotic obstacle from the nude female human body: There will consequently be in striptease a whole number of coverings placed upon the body of the woman in proportion as your woman pretends to strip that bare (84), also, From the common prejudice, the boogie which comes with the striptease from starting to end is in no way an erotic aspect (85). According to Freud (as qtd. by Williams), Aversion through the real female genitals, which can be never lacking in any fetishist, also remains an indelible stigma in the repression that has taken place (104). The fetish is, says Williams, paraphrasing Freud, an alternative phallus developed in the unconscious of a son who does not need to give up the belief that his mother provides a penis (103). Herods eager desire for Salomes dance seems to supersede everything else in the monologue. He fetishes the party, in the way that he fetishes her foot:
HEROD
Oh, thou skill to party with naked feet! Tis well! Tis well! Thy little foot will be like white doves. They will be just like little white-colored flowers that dance after the woods (53)
Because Herod begs Salome to dance and fulfill his desire, this individual reacts inside the neurotic manner described over, inexplicably fearful of omens, and constantly repeating and contradicting himself.
The Dance Monologue features a substantial array of specific symbols. Because earlier, Salomes dance on its own is a sign, one of Herods desire, great kingdom is essentially a symbol of the power hes ready to mortgage to be able to fulfill this kind of desire. Herod, as a neurotic, constantly recognizes auguries of ill bundle of money around him. The colors white-colored, red, and black all illicit good emotional replies from him: Salomes white feet are calming (53), a black chicken inspires fear (51), as well as the color reddish is threatening (51, 53). Herod responds insanely to the garlands of rose petals around his neck, declaring, They are like stains of blood around the cloth (51). Herod tries to relieve him self by rationalizing his make use of symbolic vocabulary: It is not a good idea to find symbols in exactly what one perceives. It makes life also full of dangers. It were better to say that stains of blood are as attractive as rose-petals [Emphasis added] (51). Simply by merely turning the simile around, Herod is able to quiet himself. Yet , the reordering of a simile is a very arbitrary change, and Herod also seems mentally unstable now in his monologue. It is very clear that the symbolic language in Herods head that moves through this monologue has a intense impact on his mental health. Herod is, essentially, in bondage to not simply his prefer to see Salome dance, although also to symbolic dialect, the kind that Iokanaan acquired wielded to such great effect. He says explicitly, on page 52, My spouse and i am the slave of my expression, and my personal word may be the word of a king. In the beginning, the first part of this kind of statement is actually a metaphor, however , it is obvious in the context of Herods monologue, that the entire assertion is literal: Herod is actually a slave to his words and phrases, and to his imagination.
Herod is usually, ultimately, stuck by significance. He is bounded by Salomes dance, by itself a symbolic gesture, one which, according to Barthes, establish[es] the woman straight away as an object in undercover dress [Emphasis his] (84). The King is, also, bordered by his own terminology, his propensity to create ominous items. He is demanding and neurotic, and his prefer to see Salome merely boogie has come into the open in his monologue. The strange and idiosyncratic characteristics of Herods monologue his desperate repeating, his volatile feelings, his apprehensive significance, and his worried and childlike tone most serve to enhance the notion that he are not able to escape his desire, and that he is stuck between his fetish wonderful fear.
Works Offered
Barthes, Roland. Striptease. Mythologies. New York: Hillside and Wang, 1972. 84-87.
Freud, Sigmund. Etika: An Examination of a Circumstance of Foreboding. New York: Sue Schuster, 1963.
Schwanzgeile, Oscar. Salome. New York: Dover, 1967.
Williams, Linda. Hard Key: Power, Pleasure, and the Madness of the Visible. Berkeley: U. of Washington dc Press, 1989.
