How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
SALOMÉ How wasted he is! He is like a thin ivory statue. He is like an image of silver. I am sure he is chaste, as the moon is. He is like a moonbeam, like a shaft of silver. His flesh must be very cold, cold as ivory… I would look closer at him.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN No, no, Princess! (130-1)
Salomé seems to be attracted by Jokanaan's purity; she's turned on by his chastity. The Syrian, in his innocence, seems totally unable to handle anything approximating lust.
Quote #5
SALOMÉ Speak again! Speak again, Jokanaan, and tell me what I must do.
JOKANAAN Daughter of Sodom, come not near me! But cover thy face with a veil, and scatter ashes upon thine head, and get thee to the desert, and seek out the Son of Man.
SALOMÉ Who is he, the Son of Man? Is he as beautiful as thou art, Jokanaan? (137-9)
Salomé, in her passion, finds a way to sexualize Jokanaan's calls for repentance. The Son of Man, her potential savior, becomes another sexual object.
Quote #6
SALOMÉ There is nothing in the world so white as thy body. Suffer me to touch thy body.
JOKANAAN Back! daughter of Babylon! By woman came evil into the world. Speak not to me. I will not listen to thee. I listen but to the voice of the Lord God. (145-146)
Jokanaan's purity, his disgust at anything sensual, seems to spring from his understanding of Original Sin. He blames women for bringing sin into the world and cannot look past that first, fateful error.