Skip Navigation

Literature and Theology 2004 18(1):23-37; doi:10.1093/litthe/18.1.23
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tookey, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

‘The Fiend That Smites with a Look‘: the Monstrous/Menstruous Woman and the Danger of the Gaze in Oscar Wilde's Salomé

Helen Tookey

Liverpool L15 3JG Helen@htookey.fsnet.co.uk

This article examines the figure of Salomé in Wilde’s play as a representation of monstrous and menstruous female sexuality. I trace the figure of Salomé back from the fin-de-siècle obsession with femmes fatales to the biblical and mythic personifications of the ‘dark side’ of feminine sexuality, and argue that the dominant images in Wilde’s play, of blood and the moon, can be connected and understood as images of menstruality: the confrontation between Salomé and Jokanaan is the confrontation of the profane (the sexually desirous, menstrual woman) with the sacred (the holy man set in a realm apart). I then go on to examine the theme of the power and danger of the gaze, again linking this to Salomé’s status as a ‘monstrous’ female; finally, I suggest that we can discover a homoerotic subtext in the (ostensibly heterosexual) confrontation of Salomé and Jokanaan.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.