Politics, sex, and spirit: the divided self in oscar wilde's salomé

Abstract

The paper aims to examine the self in Oscar Wilde’s one-act play Salomé. In the play, there are three characters, namely, Herod, Salomé and Jokanaan who represent the three different worlds of expression. One represents the world of politics who is always in search of power, the second represents the world of sex who is in search of love and passion, and the third one represents the world of spirit who dedicates his life for God. These characters comprise of three different selves of Wilde and his writing, making his play as a fictionalized autobiographical work.