Salome's story was made the subject of a play by Oscar Wilde that premiered in Paris in 1896, under the French name Salome. In Wilde's play, Salome takes a perverse fancy for John the Baptist, and causes him to be executed when John spurns her affections. In the finale, Salome takes up John's severed head and kisses it. Because at the time British law forbade the depiction of Biblical characters on stage, Wilde wrote the play originally in French, and then produced an English translation (titled Salome). To this Granville Bantock composed incidental music, which was premiered at the Court Theatre, London, on 19 April 1918.

欲望的纠缠，畸恋的爆发，诡异的氛围，都被奥斯卡·王尔德在这短短的篇幅里发展到极致。才情横溢的唯美作家奥斯卡·王尔德，绝不惮于以惊世骇俗的意象，点缀他邪魔的花园。独幕剧《莎乐美》只是一个例子。剧中，莎乐美是个年仅十六岁的妙龄美女，由于向约翰求爱被拒，愤而请希律王将约翰斩首，把约翰的首级拿在手中亲吻，以这种血腥的方式拥有了约翰。《莎乐美》写就了热爱美、追求美、为美而献身、因美而毁灭的一个美的悲剧。