THE TRIPLE GODDESS IN OSCAR WILDE'S SALOME (3)

Initially, there 's some kind of striking antithesis about Salome's attraction to Jokhanaan. At first, she feels deeply shocked by his ruthless accusations against Herodias and:
    "  ...... his eyes above all... they are black holes burnt by torches in a Tyrian tapestry."
Black is, therefore, the first colour she uses to weave this opposition between attraction and horror, linked to ominous imagery from Celtic magical symbology. Indirectly, Salome evokes the face of the Hag , Death-Bringer:
      " ..... they are like black caverns where dragons dwell, they are like the black caverns of Egypt in   which  the dragons make their lairs. They are like black lakes troubled by fantastic moons... (15)"
  After referring to dragons and those places considered as fairy dwellings (caves and lakes), the mention of the Moon`s magical identity establishes the contrast. All of a sudden, before Salome's eyes,Jokhanaan becomes:
        "...... chaste as the moon is . He is like a moonbeam."
An, almost in the same way as Narraboth has done regarding her, Salome unfolds a wide range of evocations whose common link are moonly colours.
        " He is like a thin ivory statue. He is like a shaft of silver. His flesh must be cool like ivory
Later on, his beloved one's lifeless head in her hands, she will remember that all of him was
      "a garden full of doves and of silver lilies (16)"
Before dying , Narraboth will call her "dove of all doves " (17) once again.
The Moon´s  magical atmosphere which previously surrounded Narraboth and the page now focuses Jokhanaan before Salome's love-drunken eyes -"Thy voice is wine to me" - who falls trance-like, aloof from anything around except the prophet in whom she invokes the Triple Moonly Goddess symbolized by her different shades:
White
       "I am amorous of thy body.. there is nothing in the world so white as thy body. Let me touch thy body"
Black
      "It is of thy hair that I am enamoured ... There is nothing in the world so black as thy hair. Let me touch   thy hair."
Red
    "There is nothing in the world as red as thy mouth. Let me kiss thy mouth."
No doubt there rises up a real mesmerizing atmosphere through this constant repetition of structures:"There is nothing in the world... Let me touch...."
Thus , before Salome's eyes, Jokhanaan's moonly paleness  is as meaningful as the Princess' for Narraboth.
      " SALOME - Thy body is white like the lilies of the field (according to Narraboth, she was "like a silver flower")..... the roses in the garden of the Queen of Arabia are not so white as thy body.(Narraboth would say:"...she is like the shadow of a white rose" (20)
Jokhanaan's aggressive attitude at Salome's devotion drives her magnetised surrender otherwise. Her opponen's peerless whiteness turns into a chain of deathly symbols.
      "JOKHANAAN-"Back daughter of Babylon! By woman came evil into the world.Speak not to me. I will not listen to thee.
      SALOME- Thy body is hideous. It is like the body of a leper. It is like a plastered wall where vipers have crawled, like a plasteres wall where the scorpions have mae their nests" (21)
His hair also gets transformed. After's Jokhanaan's second refusal ("Profane not the temple of God "(21) , that"cluster of black grapes" turns into a "crown of thorns" and a "knot of black serpents". Furthermore, this reminds us of the image of blacktthorn as an evil symbol within Celtic culture..
We have already pointed out the linking between the Triple Goddess' symbols and Salome's fascinated rapture. Obvious, the identification between the Prophet`s hair and Dark Moon`s Goddess
   "The long black nights when the moon hides her face when the stars are afraid , are not so black, The silence that dwells in the forest is not so black" (24)
Red -present in Jokhanaan´s lips - was the symbol of the Mother Goddess and among the Celts evoked courage, violence, heroic qualities:
         "....The red blasts of trumpets that herald that approach of kings and make afraid the enemy , are not so red...(Thy mouth) is rdder than the feet of him who cometh from  a forest where he hath slain a lion "
And also sensuousness:
         "I will kiss thy mouth, Jokhanaan"
The Red Moon has also evident sexual symbolism in Herod's voice:
         "She is like a mad woman, a mad woman who is seeking  everywhere for lovers. She is naked too (....)The clouds are seeking to clothe her nakedness...she reels through the clouds like a drunken woman... I am sure that she is looking for lovers ...(25)
It is also a deathly omen, just before Salome's dance and Jokhanaan´s  execution:
        "HEROD - Look at the moon !She has become red.She has become red as blood. Ah, the prophet prophesied truly.He prophesied that the moon would become red as blood. Did he not prophesy it?" (26)

Another persistent motif that heralds fatality is the "angel of death" perceived by Jokhanaan:
             "JOKHANAAN- In that day...... the moon shall become like blood... (27) "
And also by Herod himself:
        "HEROD- I am sure I heard in the air a beating of wings, a beating of giant wings....."(28)
          ....... " There is an icy wind and I hear... wherefore do I hear in the air this beating of wings ?Ah one might fancy a bird, a huge black bird that hovers over the terrace (¡¡¡The Great Raven, symbol of the Celtic Goddess of Death !!!)Why can I not see it ,this bird?(29)
Perhaps this coincidence might be symtomatic of some kind of synergetic connection between both characters that would somehow explain Herod's strong reluctance to fulfill Salome´s stubborn wish. He is willing to give her absolutely anything , no matter what - from jewels or priceless animals  to part of his own kingdom or even the veil of Jerusalem's Temple - except Jokhanaan's life. That belevolence towards his prisoner is also manifested when he tries to excuse him before Herodias
   "HERODIAS- ..... You allow him to revile your wife?
    HEROD - He did not speak thy name.
    HERODIAS -What does that matter?You know well it is I whom he seeks to revile.and I am your wife, am I not?
    HEROD-Of a truth, dear and noble Herodias, you are my wife and, before, that, you were the wife of my brother"(30)
When Salome finally gets her bloody prize, the concept of love as something magical, eerie. appears in Salome's voice. She sounds like meditating before her prey's lifeless face:
 "Thy voice was a censer that scattered strange perfumes and when I looked on thee I heard a strange music..."
But it is not that mesmerising sensation experienced before:
"Thy voice is wine to me....the mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death....!"(31)
The moon, once again, coordinates the development of the story. It is the divine Sorceress, the Messager of Death who manifests herself in the hidden Moon....
"A great black cloud crosses the moon an conceals it completely"
 .... which , for a second, shines back in troumph over Salome, just before she dies after quenching her desire.....
SALOME - they say that love hath a bitter taste..but what of that?What of that? I have kissed thy mouth, Jokhanaan.