- Herod asks Salomé to dance for him.
- Salomé tells him she won't dance.
- Herodias makes fun of Herod. Herod brushes it off. He's totally happy regardless.
- The first soldier remarks that Herod has a "sombre look" (305). The second soldier agrees.
- Herod starts talking to himself, reassuring himself that he's happy, that Caesar loves him. He loves him so much that he's going to crucify the King of Cappadocia, an enemy of his.
- Jokanaan cries out again. This time he speaks of a king sitting on throne holding a "golden cup full of his blasphemies" (308). He will be struck down by the angel of the Lord, he says, and worms will eat him.
- Listen to the terrible things he's saying about you, Herodias tells Herod.
- He's not talking about me, Herod says. He's definitely talking about the King of Cappadocia, my enemy. Jokanaan never says anything bad about me, he says, except for the time he said I sinned by taking my brother's wife…but he was probably right about that. Also, he says to Herodias, you're sterile.
- Herodias reminds him that she's had a child, and that he has never fathered one. You, she tells him, are the sterile one.
- Herod tells her to shut up. If I say you're sterile, he tells her, you're sterile. Anyway, he continues, Jokanaan said that our marriage is incestuous, and that it would lead to evil things. Still, he insists that he's happy.
- Herodias suggests that they go inside, seeing as it's late. We have a hunt in the morning, she reminds him.
- The soldiers remark that Herod has a somber look.
- Herod asks Salomé to dance for him. He's sad, he's slipped in blood—a really bad omen—he's heard the beating of giant wings. So he's sad, and he wants Salomé to cheer him up by dancing. If you dance, he tells her, I'll give her anything you want.
- Salomé perks up at this. Anything I want, she says?
- Herodias tells her not to dance.
- Yes, Herod tells Salomé, anything.
- Really? asks Salomé.
- Yes, swears Herod.
- Herodias tells her not to dance.
- By what will you swear? Salomé asks.
- "By my crown, by my gods," he tells her (324). I'll give you anything, he says, even half my kingdom, if you'll dance.
- You've sworn an oath now, she tells Herod.
- Yes, he says.
- Herodias tells her not to dance.
- Herod tells Salomé she'll make a good queen—if she wants to be one. Once again, he hears the beating of wings and feels an icy wind. He thinks there might be an invisible bird. Suddenly he begins to feel cold, then burning hot. He asks for snow to eat and for his cape to be removed. Then, suddenly, he feels the garland of roses he wears around his head burning him. He asks for it to be removed.
- This is not sounding too hopeful.
- He throws the garland from his head. He notes that the roses are red like blood…but he quickly changes the subject. He's happy, after all. He asks Salomé to dance for him.
- Herodias won't allow her to dance.
- Salomé tells Herod that she'll dance for him.
- Look at that, Herod says to Herodias, your daughter's going to dance for me. He promises to give her whatever she wants.
- Salomé reminds him that he's sworn to it.
- Herod tells her that he's never broken his word. The King of Cappadocia, on the other hand, is a liar and a coward and owes Herod money. He deserves to be crucified, Herod says.
- He asks Salomé what's taking so long.
- Salomé tells him that she's waiting for her servants to bring perfume and the veils and to take her sandals off.
- The servants appear with the perfume and the veils. They take off Salomé's sandals.
- Herod is excited to see that Salomé will be dancing with her sandals off, so that he might see her feet, which look like doves, or like little white flowers.
- Suddenly he realizes that she's going to dance in the blood. He forbids her to dance in the blood—it's a bad omen.
- What do you care, Salomé asks, if I dance on the blood? After all, you've stepped in it.
- Suddenly, Herod sees the moon. It's turned blood red, just like Jokanaan said it would. See, he tells everyone, it happened just like he said it would.
- Oh yes, sure, Herodias says, and the stars are falling like unripe figs, and the sun has turned black. She tells him to go inside before word gets out that he's gone mad. Clearly she's not buying it.
- Jokanaan cries out again. "Who is this," he asks, "who cometh from Edom, who is this who cometh from Bozra, whose raiment is dyed with purple, who shineth in the beauty of his garments, who walketh mighty in his greatness? Wherefore is thy raiment stained with scarlet?" (340).
- Herodias can't stand to listen to Jokanaan. She wants to go inside. She insists that Salomé not dance.
- Herod tells her to sit down. He refuses to go in until Salomé dances.
- Herodias tells Salomé not to dance.
- Salomé dances the Dance of the Seven Veils.