Christa Giles

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play, Salomé is explicitly identified with the silver flower as
is the moon which is also identified with Salomé. The
young Syrian says that Salomé is like ˝a silver flower,˝ 282
and Salomé herself claims that the moon is like ˝a little
silver flower.˝ 283 It is revealing, then, that when Salomé
examines Jokanaan, she in effect sees a reflection of herself,
for she describes him as an ˝image of silver.˝ 284 Further, she
identifies him with the moon which, as we have seen
throughout the play, is closely connected only with Salomé
herself. ˝I am sure he is chaste as the moon is,˝ 285 she cries,
mesmerized, while attempting to look closer at what she
perceives to be a reflection of herself. ˝He is like a
moonbeam, like a shaft of silver.˝ 286 Moreover, out of all the
men who gazed at her, it is only in Jokanaan’s gaze that she
sees her mirror image, for his eyes, she says, are like ˝black
lakes troubled by fantastic moons.˝ 287
The lunar imagery and symbolism in the play allow
Wilde efficaciously to make dramatic connections without
the reader or the audience being aware that he is doing so.
For while a symbol reveals, it also, like Salomé’s veiled
presence, paradoxically conceals and shrouds in mystery.
Thus, we should be aware that the metal corresponding to
the moon is silver, and that moreover it is customarily
identified with the occult side of the nature as well as with