who'd come like a lamb to the slaughter
to Salome's bed.
In tile mirror, I saw my eyes glitter.
I flung back the sticky red sheets,
and there, like I said -and ain't life a bitch -
was his head on a platter.
Q: What does each Stanza tell the reader about Salome?
Stanza 1
In Stanza one, Salome seems careless and confused, and is just starting to realise what she’d done the night before.
Quote: “What did it matter?” Strange…”
Salome sounds almost detached from herself, like she doesn’t really know if she’s in reality or still dreaming. It like she doesn’t want to know it’s her that’s been up to mischief, it’s another Salome, who’s she been mixed up with. She sounds lonely, and fragile, like it’s just another moment snatched, gone and left. Like the time is creeping past her, and she’s left on unstable foundations as a result of it. Salome seems emotionless at everything around her, or like she’s trying to cover it up with a front of airy carelessness. Her confusion is obvious, as she try’s to remember, and finds having someone next to her wrong or strange. Like she’s in a sort of denial, that all the things around her are just her imagination and unimportant.
Stanza 2
In this stanza, Salome seems to be trying to avoid thinking of what she’s done, or she doesn’t seem to think much of it.
Example: “I’d feel better for tea…”
Salome seems careless in Stanza 1, but in this stanza she mentions “feeling better”. It’s like she knows she’s done something bad, and it’s putting her on edge, taunting her memory. So she’s trying to distract herself from it, banish the attachment to emotion or anything negative. She also concentrates on the maid, describing small details of her walk, her sounds, her movement. It’s sounds like she used to having maids, and it seems the maid is some kind of calming tool and a constant being throughout Salomes endless addiction (even if she thinks otherwise.) Salome focuses a lot of energy on the maid, like she’s her life source, the only thing keeping her stable. Salome is really quite weak at this point.
Stanza 3
In this stanza Salome has an outburst, like the realisation has suddenly hit her.
An Example is: “Never Again!”
Its like the reality has suddenly overwhelmed, so she babbles and babbles, telling herself she will sort, she will get through it. But the speaker is addicted, is just a lie, a lie to make herself feel better and less guilty. She’s trapped in this endless, enduring cycle, and whenever she tries to push it away, it always comes back. Always to taunt her, and attach itself to her, and leave her weak and exhausted after. She is trying to build some kind of mental stability, but the way she talks and talks suggests she know that she only grasping at straws. And when she says “Like a lamb to the slaughter.” It sounds sinister, reckless and raises our suspicion. But the way the speaker says it sounds like she describing someone else, the same “It wasn’t my fault “ thinking. The front has come down like a suit of armour, hiding away the wreck underneath.
Stanza 4
Stanza four is shocking, as Salome has regained control and is covering up her outburst with a sinister way of thinking.
Quote: “My eyes glitter.” “I flung back…”
She sounds nasty and evil, like she revealing her true colours. But I think Salome blames the man for his own death, that it’s his fault. That man didn’t have to come with her, he should of known what was going to happen. It’s this whole different reality, and the Real Salome is lost somewhere, probably screaming for help. It’s like she trying to defend herself for her shocking actions, which is also linked to addiction. That it’s anyone else’s fault, apart from the real culprit. She wont accept that it’s her, she wont accept herself. The denial is back in place, ready to replay the same scene again.