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Esther In The Hebrew Bible

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Esther is one of the essential female figures in the Hebrew Bible. Usually, people extol her as a significant heroine, for she saves the Israelites from dangers and establishes a religious festival, Purim. Her humble, fearless, attractive and obedience win high praise from the Israelite. However, from the modern perspective, Esther is not heroic as she has been admired in the text. Instead, to some extent, she is a pathetic figure, who is forced to remain her absolute obedience in the patriarchal society. In some moments, she even has to give up her personal sentiments or belief for the victory of her family and the destiny of the whole Israelites. Even though Esther is a book about the victory of a woman, men are still the prevailing figures, …show more content…

Instead, he overly emphasizes the fact that the King is holding a banquet and the disobedient Queen against the command of her husband. Throughout the whole story, the Queen does not say a word to defend for herself. Even though the reader is curious about the exact reason, from the author’s point of view, the reason is redundant and unnecessary. At the same time, he uses a lot of words to describe the wealth of the King and how does the decree he proclaims in the end. When the King allows all of his officials to do anything they desire, Queen Vashti does not even have the opportunity to do the things she desires. She definitely is an independent woman with free wills. However, the free wills of women are forbidden in the ancient Israel society. In the patriarchal society, females regarded as the possessions of males, and they have no rights to make decisions for their own benefits. Once their decisions violate the authority of the social rules, they would be punished. Queen Vashti, as one of the most evident example, is accused of being not only refuting the command of her husband, but also assaulting the rules of patriarchal society. In the eyes of the males, she intentionally instigates the obedient Israel women to rebel against the minds of their

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