Beheaded for Love: A Mini-Essay

     In the New Testament, Salomé, the daughter of Herod II and Herodias, becomes enamored by John the Baptist and, in an effort to seduce him, performs the Dance of the Seven Veils. Her efforts fail and the jilted woman demands his head, which is presented to her on a silver platter. The image of her kissing his cold, dead lips has been replayed through art and literature for millennia. It is not, though, the only famous instance of unrequited love prompting a beheading. For centuries, painters and writers have recounted tales – some factual and others fictional – of decapitated lovers. In Japanese literature, the Heike Monogatari (written sometime before 1330) relates the story of a sixteen-year-old samurai, Taira no Atsumori, who is beheaded in the battle of Ichinotani by the spiteful Kumagai Naozane, a member of the enemy’s forces who falls madly in love with the young man. Stendhal’s 1830 novel, Le Rouge et le Noir, tells the story of Mathilde de la Mole, the imbalanced daughter of the Marquis, who develops an unhealthy obsession with Julien Sorel – an employee of her father who Mathilde believes is a mirror image of her ancestor Boniface de la Mole – and, at the close of the novel, confiscates Sorel’s guillotined head. Twenty-seven years later, the French poet Charles Baudelaire penned “Une Martyre,” which narrates the tale of a young woman decapitated by her lover. And, in 1907, Albert von Keller’s painting Die Liebe depicted the titular character as a triumphant figure standing beside the lover she has beheaded. In each case (and many others), unreciprocated adoration drives one individual to murder another. What, hence, would trigger such behavior? 
     Psychologist Deborah South Richardson claims that people are more prone to commit acts of aggression on individuals they have a close relationship with rather than strangers. Indeed, these relationships – whether real or perceived – have more significance in our lives than casual encounters and, as a result, prompt deeper emotions than the polite and superficial sensations of daily interactions. So, we are more willing to show anger toward a loved one rather than a stranger. Yet, what would spawn the unsavory actions of Salomé or Kumagai Naozane? According to Aaron Ben-Ze’ev, the pang of rejection is a powerful factor: “A lack of reciprocity – this is, the knowledge that the one you love does not love you – is painful and humiliating, because it is a profound blow to your self-esteem. Unrequited love is painful and this pain can drive you to hurt the one you love.” Hence, as Richardson emphasizes, we are more emotionally involved with the relationships closest to us and, as Ben-Ze’ev highlights, the humiliation caused when these feelings are not reciprocated can lead to aggression and the desire to inflict pain. In typical circumstances, as Ben-Ze’ev and Richardson explain, this backlash occurs through biting words or slight passive-aggressive actions. In rare instances marred by severe co-dependency or psychological delusions (Mathilde’s detrimental fascination with Julien, for example), unstable individuals, Ben-Ze’ev and Richardson argue, will perform irrational acts to inflict upon someone the pain of rejection. In the case of Salomé and her peers, it is the head of their disinterested infatuation on a silver platter.

Works Referenced 

Ben-Ze’ev, Aaron. The Subtlety of Emotions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.

Baudelaire, Charles. “Une Martyre.” Les Fleurs de Mal. France: Auguste Poulet-Malassis, 1857.

Heike Monogatari. Trans. A.L. Sadler. Japan: Yushodo Booksellers, 1965.

Stendhal. Le Rouge et le Noir. France: A. Lavesseur, 1830.

Richardson, Deborah South. “Everyday Aggression Takes Many Forms.” SAGE 23.3 (2014): 220-224.

Von Keller, Albert. Die Liebe. 1907, oil on canvas, unknown collection.