Christa Giles

the feminine. It is also helpful to know that ˝lunar objects
may be taken as those of a passive or reflecting character,
like the mirror; or those which can alter their surface/area,
like the fan.˝ 288 Manifestly, then, it is for this reason that
Wilde uses the fan in his complex of lunar imagery in the
play. Thus, the princess hides ˝her face behind her fan,˝ 289
and Herodias calls for her fan not once but twice. 290 In
effect, the fan acts both as ˝surface˝ and ˝symbol˝ in the
play, a decorative prop and a link in a network of lunar
symbolism.
Wilde also uses symbols to juxtapose various
dualities or antithetical forces in the play in order to
generate an overriding sense of ambivalence. Thus, not
only is Salomé perceived to be both an angel and a devil,
but the colours red and white function in the play in a sort
of binary pattern. Salomé’s feet like ˝white doves˝ 291 or
˝little white flowers˝ 292 will dance on blood even as the
moon later becomes ˝red as blood,˝ 293 presaging Jokanaan’s
death in a kind of demonic apocalypse. In this way, Wilde
allows a fusion to take place between physical reality and
abstractions or inner mood. Thus, the white moon changes
to red on a preter-logical level, even as Salomé was chaste
but her virginity is (once again, only on a symbolic level)
taken from her by Jokanaan. ˝I was chaste,˝ she tells
97