Salome (opera)
The scene becomes even more chaotic until Herodes asks Salome to dance for him, promising her anything, even half his kingdom, if she does. She agrees and dances the “Dance of the Seven Veils.” She comes onto the stage wearing nothing but the veils and seductively takes them all off. Herod is very pleased until she asks for her reward: the head of Jokanaan on a silver platter. He is horrified and offers her his best items but she persists. Finally, he gives in. An executioner is sent into the pit, but Salome hears him drop his blade and Jokanaan does not cry out. She is furious, and tells Herodias’s servant that there will be many more dead bodies if she does not get what she wants. Finally, the executioner returns, bearing the bloody head. Salome seizes it and begins to embrace it passionately as the moonlight disappears and reappears. Herodes, fleeing in shock, orders his soldiers to kill her.