Christa Giles

supreme expression in the figure of Salomé. For Salomé
evinces a cerebral lechery, thereby combining sinfulness
with purity, and, like the androgyne, she satisfies her own
desires. For her eroticism is cerebral and takes place in her
own mind. It is inevitable, then, that she should be
identified with narcissism. As we have seen, narcissism is
closely related to the self-sufficiency of the dandy who ˝doit
vivre et dormir devant son miroir.˝ 279
Indeed, Wilde suggests Salomé’s self-sufficiency and
narcissism in the play through his use of mirror symbolism.
Thus, Salomé is ˝like the shadow of a white rose in a mirror
of silver.˝ 280 She is like ˝a narcissus trembling in the
wind.˝ 281 The idea of narcissism is closely connected with
and rooted in the decadent mentality, for the narcissist
revels in her own subjectivity, in a purely internal world. In
order to love, it is necessary that the duality of subject and
object exist, but the narcissist becomes both subject and
object. The mirror allows Salomé to see herself and render
herself object through it since she obtains her double. It is
for this reason that Wilde’s Salomé is always being gazed
at, and why she pursues the one man who eludes her. Of
course, it is significant that she seeks Jokanaan as a kind of
reflection of herself. Therefore, she is convinced that if he
had seen her, he would have loved her. Throughout the
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