I haven't really encountered Salome often or if I did, then it’s usually in brief passing (like I know the name and that’s generally it). But with today’s discussion seminar I was able to actually see the ways in which sexuality and queer culture really impacted the story and its reception to the audience. It’s also interesting that the amount of androgynous and fluidity between characters is discussed as it seems to open a leeway in genders and their ability to move  (not more freely per se, but to open questions about what an individual is capable of and challenge the roles of the male gaze). I’ve also liked the ways in which Salome had been portrayed as this seductress but all for the sake of getting the religious figure’s head—in its time, I’m sure it would have caused some sort of uproar with Christian beliefs and damning in that sense, but it’s Wilde’s ability to call attention to how rigid the systems of both gender and religion are.

There’s a lot of symbolism in the illustrations that adds onto the text that I haven’t really thought about prior to this and it also helps in understanding the types of ways that an author (and illustrator) although have different ideas, still enriches the understanding of the text and views numerous perspectives. At the same time, it also shown this love-hate relationship with the exotic other and how it ties with women and their “motives of tempting men away from religion”. It's ironically sad that it seems to keep people within Christian belief (and in extension rigidly masculine and feminine traits), they would need to almost scare the reader into doing so - which Wilde ends up turning that notion on its head (a pun!) when Salome ends up getting what she wanted. It feels kind of like a promise that things are going to be circumvented and changed.