Reinstating Oscar Wilde within the Literary Canon of Post Modernity: Re- visioning Salome. By Dr.Mahmud Mustafa Araj Palestine Technical University [email protected] Reinstating Oscar Wilde within the Literary Canon of Post Modernity: Re-visioning Salome Abstract Oscar Wilde has always been a paradigm of opposites and contradictoriness and far beyond his literary age as far as his narratology goes. Drawing reflective sustenance from Pater and Ruskin, he moved much beyond the Victorian aesthetics into the fractured dichotomies of post-modernist functionalities and inter- texualities. Be it his first volume of poems (1881) or his first play Veral (1883) or the fairy tales (1888) or his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray he showed a predilection for varied forms and structures disregarding the usual determinants of generic affiliation. In Salome (1893) Wilde chose to exploit a Biblical legend without dwelling on the Christian nuances and connotations and instills into the story of avant-garde and a social view point typical of his own bohemian lifestyle recasting and revisioning the pristine tale into a modernist exposition of repressed psychological desires. The paper proposes to analyze the verbal arabesques of Salome’s speeches to investigate her inexorable capacity to fly into surrealistic distortions evincing her own fractured selfhood verging on the mythically demonic, transcending the spatio-temporality of human circumstances, creating an exclusivity of being and becoming. Keywords Aesthetics, fractured dichotomies, functionalities, inter- texualities, generic affiliation. verbal arabesques, surrealistic distortions, demonic, spatio-temporality, exclusivity Introduction “I will be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or other I will be famous, and if not famous, I will be notorious” So declared the exotic Irishman – Oscar Wilde – as he set foot in England in search of creative freedom and artistic opportunities that strife-ridden Ireland had denied. This wittiest of humorists and the most humorous of wits was an eclectic personality, oscillating between an unpalatable superficiality and an uncanny profundity in such quick succession that it was well-neigh impossible to pin him down. Perhaps he had inherited these dire contrasts from his parents who were antithetically opposed to one another and yet inseparably attached and it was living within such contrariety that he was fascinated by both Ruskin and Pater. Whereas Pater fired Wilde’s imagination, Ruskin stirred his conscience; Pater appealed to the instinct of individualism in him and Ruskin awakened in him a sense of social awareness and responsibility; the former instilled in Wilde the ideal of self-enhancement and self-perfection and the latter inspired him to devote his time and energy for the common good. Thus, Wilde could run riot and savor a life of sensual indulgence as well as practice scholarly restraint and self-discipline – his soul and body titillated by Pater he look to Ruskin for spiritual guidance. It is these vying dichotomies in his nature that make his works fit for a post-modernist narratological analysis. A non-conformist, to say the least, he could not be tied down to the rigors of conventionality and generic prescriptions moving dexterously out of the labyrinths of the stereotypical – he was a law unto himself. His uninhibited creativity came in for much critical censure with the publication of his Poems (1881). However, rejection failed to plummet Wild’s enthusiasm or inhibit his imaginativeness. He wrote some fairy tales in 1888 giving vent to his diversified fancies. These were favorably reviewed and spurred him to try his hand at fiction – The Picture of Dorian Gray where he tried his hand at the highly sensitive, provocative and controversial arena of Victorian morality. Thereafter, the plays followed in quick succession – Vera, The Duchess of Padua, The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Winder – mere’s Fan to name the more popular. For a complex personality like Wilde’s that carried an entire spectrum of prismatic experiences and responses within itself, and who was regarded as a blatant iconoclast who propagated an anti-establishment creed of his own making, no other platform but theatre could have been appropriate. No wonder that Wilde was fascinated with theatre from the days of his youth. His old school friend, Edward Sullivan relates that “when they met, Oscar used to be full of his occasional visits to London and cold talk of nothing but the impact made upon him by plays and players.” Wilde attempted to satisfy his protean tendencies and fertile imagination through his plays. Theatre was the medium through which he satiated his sensual and sensitive temperament. It was a platform where art existed and was enjoyed for Wilde for its own sake; where the boundaries between the moral and the immoral ceased to exist and what remained was the enjoyment of art in its pristine glory and variety. Simultaneously, theatre was crucial to Wilde’s social ‘self’, enabling him to reach to a wider audience. Wilde the man, Wilde the playwright, Wilde the rebel aimed at being a prototype or icon of a modern attitude that sets itself out in belligerent defiance and denial of all things normal or stereotyped. He questions and puts to test, through his wry and acidic comments, the overt cruelty and insensitivity abounding in a Victorian psyche which otherwise depicts such blasé morality. He exposes the subtle shades of insanity, abnormality, and excess of human behavior garbed in the sanctimonious colours of morality. He attempts in his plays to reveal the antithetical patterns of society – frivolity against decorum; irreverence against acceptance; anarchy against institutionalism; the individual against society; beauty against ugliness; freedom against bondage. Salome, published in 1893 was originally written in French and later translated into English by Alfred Douglas. It faced immense official censorship and critical disapproval from the public for reasons that ranged from offending the religious sentiments of the people to jeopardizing moral issues. The play was regarded by some as an effrontery to the social order and a threat to its stability while others considered it “repulsive and very offensive.” (The Times 1996, 414) Nevertheless, the play, despite all opposition and criticism was staged in 1896 when Wilde was in prison facing charges of homosexuality. This production restored Wilde’s questionable self-esteem when he boldly declared that at “a time of disgrace and shame I should still be regarded as an artist.” (Pearson 1954, 321) Wilde chose to step out of the middle-class drawing rooms of his social comedies and embark upon a new genre of writing that exploited the Biblical legend of Salome. The legend of Salome has its origin in the Gospel narratives of St. Matthew (xiv, 3-16) and St. Mark (vi, 17-22). The legend describes Salome as a bizarre adolescent, the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod, the ruler of Galilee during Biblical times. Herod had held John, the Baptist captive during a grand celebration. He asked Salome to perform a dance in return of which he promised to grant her anything she wished. Herodias, Salome’s mother instigated Salome to dance and then forced her to demand John’s head. Herodias thus avenged herself on John for hurling insults at her for her incestuous marriage with Herod. Since Herod was a ruler, he had to abide be the oath given to Salome to fulfill any wish she put forth. Thus when Salome asked for John’s head, Herod had to yield to her demand. However, Wilde picks up only the story of Salome and the basic incidents of the legend without going into the Biblical nuances and connotations. He uses the legend as the foundation of his play, Salome and builds his imagination upon it which is devoid of any biblical coloring, but more so projects his own artistic perception and vision of the legend. In his aim to establish an avant- garde and asocial stand that was typical of his bohemian mannerism, Wilde recasts a Christian viewpoint as much as he revisions the society at large. Traditionally, the Christian society debased women “by giving sexuality the connotation of something sinful and low,” (Horney 1939, 117) but Wilde, in his play, Salome, makes his heroine the representative of a sexual condition. The dominant characteristic that he attributes to Salome is the outrageous expression of her sexual instincts and desires. Wilde opposes the religious, social and cultural reasons that enforce upon woman the realization of being debased and soiled by sexuality and thus lowered (lower) in her own self-esteem. In doing so, he reverts to the process of understanding the subject of sexuality. Analysis of Salome’s Verbal Speeches The play, Salome is an exposition of Salome’s acceptance and expression of sexuality, and the multiplicity of images that she acquires as a consequence. Her passion for the prophet Jokanaan is the epicenter on which all the tendencies and causes are based. Wilde makes this passion the pivotal incident that defines and shapes Salome’s entire personality. Her character assumes multiple dimensions as she moves from one emotional or sexual experience to another. She binds together the numerous strands of libidinous association inviting multiple layers of interpretation and exploration. Salome’s passion for Jokanaan and her own psychological being has been variously interpreted by critics. One view is given by Michael Kennedy in his book Richard Strauss (1995) in which he observes that Salome’s is “a study in obsession.” (134) Salome’s obsessive passion for Jokanaan makes its pronounced impact in a stretch of three powerful speeches. Each speech demonstrates the ever increasing intensity of her irresistible desire for Jokanaan. Wilde’s critic, Epifanio San Jaun, Jr. (1967), calls the three speeches as “metaphoric flights” that “represent the release of her libidinal impulses.” (12 Addressed to Jokanaan, the first of the three speeches elicits Salome’s obsessive passion directed towards a physical appreciation of his body. Salome describes Jokanaan’s body in a variety of images. The pristine purity and whiteness of his body is evoked through very powerful correlatives: one, “the lilies of a field that the mower hath never mowed,” (CW, 558) and the other, “the snows that lie on the mountains.” (CW, 559) The fairness and the very whiteness of his skin is enhanced by the exotic and luxuriant comparison to the roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia and to the moon. A very strong visual sensuousness is aroused signifying, on the one hand, an extreme sensuousness of the roses, and on the other, the unapproachable purity of the moon. This first love speech of Salome uses imagery that is “pure” and “chaste.” (Shewan, 1977, 140) Salome describes at length the attraction she feels towards Jokanaan’s hair. She draws a close parallel between Jokanaan’s hair and “the clusters of black grapes that hang from the vine trees of Edom in the land of the Edomites.” (CW, 559) The imagery of black grapes evokes sensuousness and intoxication. The image of the fluid movement or the cascading down of his hair is also evoked by its comparison to grapes. Salome uses the image of “the great cedars of Lebanon” that provide shade to the lions and the robbers to stress the black color of Jokanaan’s hair. Emphasizing on the very blackness of his hair, she compares it to the starless, moonless “long, black nights” whose very blackness is like an inscrutable curtain shielding out any possible ray of light; in other words, Jokanaan’s youthfulness is portrayed through the vivid imagery of the cedars and starless, moonless night. The third love speech of Salome grows more intense in its imagery. There is wild profusion and riot of color in the most exotic, oriental and mystic blends and comparisons used by Salome to describe Jokanaan’s red mouth. The deep red color of his mouth is created though a vibrant visual comparison with the “pomegranate-flowers that blossom in the garden of Tyre.” (559) She raves about the sensuous rich red color through the images of red roses and “the red blasts of trumpets that herald the approach of kings, and make afraid the enemy.” Not even for a moment does the sensual or erotic impulse wane or dilute as Salome speaks of Jokanaan’s mouth surpassing the red color of the feet of those who crush grapes in the wine-press. The element of raw and bestial sensuousness is brought to the fore when the comparisons of Jokanaan’s red mouth is made with the feet of those who return from a forest after killing a lion and tiger. The variations extend to Salome’s comparing Jokanaan’s mouth to a “branch of coral” that fishermen have found in the sea’s twilight and to “the bow of the King of the Persians” that has been painted with vermillion and tipped with coral. In fact, the quintessential color is red – a color that depicts the innate passion and life in its prime form and extends to reveal yet many more shades and hues – ranging from the red of the rose, to the red of bestial blood, to the red of sanctified vermillion and to the red of exclusive coral. The intensity of Salome’s passion reaches a peak where she is able to break free of any religion or culture and presents herself in the most primordial state – like a pagan worshiping a God. Overwhelming passion, unclouded passion, uncontrollable passion is what is predominantly demonstrated in the last speech of Salome. The Salome’s verbal arabesques multiply by the time she delivers her third speech, yet her inexorable capacity to imagine never succumbs to surrealistic distortions. Each and every image that Salome uses clearly and vividly depicts the intense passion that she feels for Jokanaan. Yet the multiplicity as well as repeated occurrence of these images points towards the obsessive nature of Salome’s love for Jokanaan. Salome’s singular obsession for Jokanaan excludes any other possibility or avenue of thought. She is transfixed to and entranced by Jokanaan’s body and continuously emphasizes its beauty through a series of vivid images. Her obsessive passion is so intense that it even overcomes the curses and humiliations of Jokanaan or his threats of an impending doom. Salome obsessively pursues the object of her desire remaining undeterred by any moral, social or religious norm. This contention of obsessive passion is countered by yet another view. Salome’s capacity for passion for Jokanaan and its uninhibited expression has been described by Joseph Donohue. (2005) as “perverse” (126) . In the light of a Freudian view, Salome’s passion for Jokanaan can be critically examined as an instance of perversion which is demonstrated clearly in the three very powerful, seductive speeches of Salome. In the first speech, Salome speaks of her desire to touch Jokanaan’s body. When she denied her wish, she requests Jokanaan to allow him to touch his hair. Yet again she faces rejection by Jokanaan. As such, she expresses her desire to kiss her mouth. She even manifests a strong attraction towards Jokanaan’s voice which, she says, has an intoxicating effect of “wine” (CW, 558) on him. Thus Salome’s passionate indulgence for Jokanaan swings from his body to his hair, to his mouth and even to his voice. Since the hair, mouth and voice are not specifically related to any sexual union, yet they form an important point of Salome’s love. It can be seen that Salome’s passion for Jokanaan moves in the direction of perversion. The way she maintains a steady gaze at him, closely observing his eyes, white skin, black hair and red mouth is a clear illustration of this fixation as conceptualized by Freud. Since her amorous advances are repeatedly spurned by Jokanaan, Salome supplants the sexual aim with the activity of greedily looking at him. Salome’s compulsive attraction towards Jokanaan’s white skin, hair, mouth and voice is fetishistic in nature. Salome’s fetishistic passion not only substitutes Jokanaan’s whole person with his skin, hair, mouth and voice but it also restricts itself completely to these aspects of Jokanaan. Salome’s compelling desire to kiss Jokanaan’s mouth further corroborates Freud’s concept of perversion. Salome becomes infatuated with Jokanaan’s red mouth and persistently expresses her wish to kiss it. Though she continuously faces rejection by Jokanaan, yet she remains undaunted. Her request to Jokanaan: “Let me kiss thy mouth,” alternates with her assertion: “I will kiss they mouth, Jokanaan.” Salome escalates her advances towards Jokanaan and is labeled a “wanton” and a “harlot” by him. However, she exploits Herod’s love for her in order to satisfy her desire to kiss Jokanaan’s mouth. By granting Herod’s demand for a dance, she obtains the decapitated head of Jokanaan. Salome finally kisses the latter’s mouth and “feasts lustfully on her victim’s blood-soaked severed head.” (574) Yet another dimension is added to Salome’s obsessive passion by the authors Christopher S. Nassaar and Nataly Shaheen (1995) who associate Salome with “mythic demonic creatures” (132) “the vampire, the siren, and the werewolf.” (132) The image of a vampire is associated with Salome at the very outset of the play. She is described by the page of Herodias as “a dead woman,” (552) who is “rising from a tomb.” (552) The page compares Salome to a vampire who has died but has risen again in order to satiate her thirst for human blood. Salome had chosen Jokanaan to quench this thirst and exhibited her desire to obtain his love. But since she is repeatedly repelled and cursed by Jokanaan, she commits the “savage sex murder” (Nassaar, 219) of Jokanaan. The vampiric association becomes stronger as Salome holds the decapitated hand of Jokanaan in her hand and kisses it passionately. In her ability to lure and cause destruction of the two male characters of the play viz. the Young Syrian and Herod, Salome evokes the image of a siren. Like a siren of Greek mythology who attracts unwary sailors on to rocks, Salome is a dangerously fascinating woman who captivates the likes of the Young Syrian and Herod.