Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Abstract
Salome was an unnamed, minor character in the New Testament of Mark and Matthew, an innocent girl who is presented as a pawn in her mother’s scheme to behead John the Baptist. Over time, Salome developed a life of her own, from being imagined as an acrobat in the Middle Ages, to a virgin beauty in the Renaissance and for Christians a constant example of evil woman. In 1891, Salome was reborn as the erotic femme fatale through the imagination of Oscar Wilde and given an existence on the stage, though the play was banned for years. Only after an opera composed in 1905 by Richard Strauss did Salome get converted into a craze and become the most prevalent version of the story.
This paper investigates the creation of Salome by looking at some of the source materials, and the notion of femme fatale. The idea of the femme fatale liberated ‘woman’ from the negative portrayals of the Bible. The erotic allure and sexuality of the femme fatale must be acknowledged, as it rules over the dreaming psyche of both men and women, giving shape to hidden desires. Yet the feeling of freedom and power created by this eroticism does not change the underlying power dynamics of the material world which remain dominated by the masculine.
It is interesting to consider Salome as a purely psychological drama occurring in the terrain of our subconscious mind, one which we’re not meant to take literally. Yet, it is also important to acknowledge that psychoanalytical interpretations are deepened when analyzed along with historical and social context, for the psychological makeup of humans doesn’t occur in a vacuum. The music too highlights this combination of subconscious delusions, fantasies, aversions, and desires colliding brutally with reality.
Included in
Musicology Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
Winner of Millenson Library Research Awards, second prize.
(https://music.hunter.cuny.edu/2023/04/24/hunter-music-graduate-students-win-first-and-second-prizes-for-millenson-library-research-awards/)