Today was an interesting day for presentations in class, as we looked at Salome by Oscar Wilde. I had never before encountered the text until this course. What first struck me was how abstract the illustrations appeared, as opposed to the illustrations Sidney Paget created for "The Man With the Twisted Lip"; whereas those were life-like, Beardsley's illustrations seemed far more interpretive. It is unfortunate that Oscar Wilde felt these illustrations were unfaithful to his original text; however, this anecdote proves how illustrators themselves can act as critics for the texts they are drawing for (as was mentioned by Dr. Kooistra).

Following from that, what I found especially interesting about the presentations today was the fact that many of the discussions focused on female sexuality as the central theme of the text. For me, the sexualization of Salome in Beardsley's illustrations was reminiscent of many contemporary films' gratuitous depictions of female nudity and sexual appeal, and the negative connotations that are attached to this appeal. This was especially emphasized to me as we watched a scene of Jessica Chastain as Salome dancing for Al Pacino; as the dance progresses, and her movements grow more sensual, it is clear from the camera's lingering shots on the men watching that she seems to have a perverse kind of effect on them. Clearly, there has been a recurrence of this narrative ("the sexual female as villainous") from Beardsley's time up until now; however, I believe that in our contemporary moment, much is being done in order to normalize open expressions of female sexuality.