Salome: a literary masterpiece about John the Baptist alayhisalam

Noori · Nov 19, 2007

don't know, very poor at GENERAL KNOWLEDGE .

naqshbandijamaati · Nov 18, 2007

an interesting question arises from this: which other prophets/ islamic religious figures have featured as characters in plays/novels/dramas/poetic epics?

naqshbandijamaati · Nov 18, 2007

no replies? tis a pity...

naqshbandijamaati · Mar 17, 2007

Salome by Oscar Wilde

--This play tells the story of the martyrdom of John the Baptist at the hands of King Herod via the instigation of his step-daughter Salome. The language is poetic and amongst the most sublime the English language has to offer.

An excerpt in which Hazrat Yahya (John the Baptist --here called Iokanaan) first speaks to and admonishes the princess Salome for her sins:

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
[Signing to the third soldier.]

Let the prophet
-17-
come forth . . . . The Princess Salome desires to see him.
SALOME
Ah!

THE PAGE OF HERODIAS
Oh! How strange the moon looks! Like the hand of a dead woman who is seeking to cover herself with a shroud.

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
She has a strange aspect! She is like a little princess, whose eyes are eyes of amber. Through the clouds of muslin she is smiling like a little princess. [The prophet comes out of the cistern. Salome looks at him and steps slowly back.]

IOKANAAN
Where is he whose cup of abominations is now full? Where is he, who in a robe of silver shall one day die in the face of all the people? Bid him come forth, that he may hear the voice of him who hath cried in the waste places and in the houses of kings.

SALOME
Of whom is he speaking?

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
No one can tell, Princess.
-18-

IOKANAAN
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?

SALOME
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.

IOKANAAN
Where is she who gave herself unto the Captains of Assyria, who have baldricks on their loins, and crowns of many colours on their heads? Where is she who hath given herself to the young men of the Egyptians, who are clothed in fine linen and hyacinth, whose shields are of gold, whose helmets are of silver, whose bodies are mighty? Go, bid her rise up from the bed of her abominations, from the bed of her incestuousness, that she may hear the words of him who prepareth the way of the Lord, that she may repent her of her iniquities. Though she will not repent, but will stick fast in her abominations, go bid her come, for the fan of the Lord is in His hand.
-19-

SALOME
Ah, but he is terrible, he is terrible!

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
Do not stay here, Princess, I beseech you.

SALOME
It is his eyes above all that are terrible. They are like black holes burned by torches in a tapestry of Tyre. They are like the black caverns where the dragons live, the black caverns of Egypt in which the dragons make their lairs. They are like black lakes troubled by fantastic moons . . . . Do you think he will speak again?

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
Do not stay here, Princess. I pray you do not stay here.

SALOME
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!

SALOME
I must look at him closer.
-20-

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
Princess! Princess!

IOKANAAN
Who is this woman who is looking at me? I will not have her look at me. Wherefore doth she look at me, with her golden eyes, under her gilded eyelids? I know not who she is. I do not desire to know who she is. Bid her begone, It is not to her that I would speak.

SALOME
I am Salome, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judæa.

IOKANAAN
Back! daughter of Babylon! Come not near the chosen of the Lord. Thy mother hath filled the earth with the wine of her iniquities, and the cry of her sinning hath come up even to the ears of God.

SALOME
Speak again, Iokanaan. Thy voice is as music to mine ear.

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
Princess! Princess! Princess!

SALOME
Speak again! Speak again, Iokanaan, and tell me what I must do.
-21-

IOKANAAN
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.

SALOME
Who is he, the Son of Man? Is he as beautiful as thou art, Iokanaan?

IOKANAAN
Get thee behind me! I hear in the palace the beating of the wings of the angel of death.

THE YOUNG SYRIAN
Princess, I beseech thee to go within.

IOKANAAN
Angel of the Lord God, what dost thou here with thy sword? Whom seekest thou in this palace? The day of him who shall die in a robe of silver has not yet come.

SALOME
Iokanaan!

IOKANAAN
Who speaketh?

SALOME
I am amorous of thy body, Iokanaan! Thy body is white, like the lilies of a field that the
-22-
mower hath never mowed. Thy body is white like the snows that lie on the mountains of Judæa, and come down into the valleys. The roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia are not so white as thy body. Neither the roses of the garden of the Queen of Arabia, the garden of spices of the Queen of Arabia, nor the feet of the dawn when they light on the leaves, nor the breast of the moon when she lies on the breast of the sea . . . . There is nothing in the world so white as thy body. Suffer me to touch thy body.
IOKANAAN
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.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Salome: a literary masterpiece about John the Baptist alayhisalam

Noori Senior Moderator

naqshbandijamaati Veteran

naqshbandijamaati Veteran

naqshbandijamaati Veteran

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Useful Searches

Salome: a literary masterpiece about John the Baptist alayhisalam

Noori Senior Moderator

naqshbandijamaati Veteran

naqshbandijamaati Veteran

naqshbandijamaati Veteran

Share This Page