Research Paper on:
Salome and Beardsley's Illustrations by Wilde

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the Victorian era, on the cusp of transition from romance to aestheticism. Wilde was the most visible of aestheticisms adherents, and in fact is credited with creating the stereotype  of gay men dressing, if not effeminately, at least outrageously. "Victorians perceived sex as chaotic and anarchic, a threat to the social order and to the self,"1 thereby making  its treatment in literature require complex strategies. The Threat of Salom Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley represented the avant-garde of the 1890s,2 but  some critics of Beardsleys illustrations have mused that while his work was intriguing, perhaps he had never seen the play.3 Beardsleys illustrations provide rich, flowing and beautiful women, none  of which can seen to be representative of that one Nassaar refers to as being "devoid of any moral sense. Hers is the ultimate crime. Even the depraved and lustful  Herod, who murdered his own brother and robbed him of his wife, finds her crime abominable and orders her killed. In Salome, Wilde finally reached the heart of darkness, going  beyond Dorian, Huysmans, Pater, Mallarme, and even Jack the Ripper within the framework of literature."4 The theme of sexuality is a strong one  in the play, but works such as Beardsleys Peacock Woman depict a woman of culture, one who appears to be above the baseness that the rich and idle bored could  find for amusement. Certainly the Peacock Woman could be hiding a sordid past or even perhaps a sordid present. However, she does not appear to be harboring murderous  intent or immorality of the highest nature imaginable in Victorian England.5 In whether Beardsleys depiction of Salome reflect a true representation of her