The images of Oscar Wilde's Salome illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley are interesting and quite different from many other illustrations in books, poems, and plays we've seen thus far. These images seem to almost contrast with the texts but definitely make a commentary. I felt that, in the images, there was a lot of sexism and homophobia seemingly shown as a way for Beardsley to comment on Wilde's sexuality. There was a lot of play on the male gaze within the illustrations. The focus of the illustrations of the women were on the body of the women rather than the scene as a whole. One example would be the peacock skirt. It's the male peacocks who use their colours to attract the female of the species yet Beardsley decided to use that through a woman. As though she's looking to attract and seek a man. This is especially iteresting since Wilde himself didn't use especially sexual or sexualized language and descriptions. Beardsley doing this seems to be just another way of the male gaze being at play.
Submitted by Zeinab Fakih on