Salome

In the inner courtyard of his place, the tetrarch Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee and Peraea by the grace of the Roman Emperor, holds the prophet Jokanaan captive and sealed off from the world. As the head of an oppositional sect, Jokanaan poses a political danger to the tetrarch. The prophet attacks the dissolute life of the rulers. But Herod, secretly in fear of the prophet, is unwilling to have him put to death.

A banquet is held in the palace. Salome, daughter of Herod’s second wife Herodias from her first marriage, flees the celebrations. When she hears the prophet’s voice, she longs to see him. She wheedles the captain Narraboth into disobeying the tetrarch’s orders and fetching the prisoner out of the cistern in which he is imprisoned. She is fascinated by Jokanaan’s stance, which seems like the antithesis of the mode of life of her own surroundings. But she knows only one way to identify with the new: that of taking sexual possession. Jokanaan refuses her advances.

Searching for Salome, Herod arrives in the courtyard with Herodias and his entourage. He asks Salome to dance for him, swearing to give her whatever she wants. After the dance, Salome demands the head of Jokanaan. The tetrarch, aghast at the prospect of execution, offers her jewels and other treasures, but finally has to fulfill his oath and her desire. The executioner brings Salome Jokanaan’s head. Salome’s bloody revenge is followed by her realization that, with Jokanaan’s death, she has destroyed herself. Herod gives the order to kill Salome.