I Amnon Essays: The Royal Rape

The Royal Rape
Any historical or cultural context necessary for understanding the story: Women in this culture were viewed as inadequate, and had little to no rights whatsoever. Women were expected to basically serve and wait on any male in their life because of how low they were viewed among people. Males on the other hand, were viewed highly; especially if they were the first born. The first born son was always highly loved and respected in the family. Males were viewed as elite and were treated as such; they would inherit everything from the parents, even if they were not the first born and a girl was. Amnon, for example, was King David’s first born son, and could do anything he wanted without consequences, and he often took advantage of

Relationships in this time period were complicated. It was not uncommon for a brother to lust after his own sister and want to be with her. In this instance though, Amnon’s relationship with Tamar became obsessive. He quickly started to fall in love with her and it starts to drive him insane the amount of hunger he has to be with her. Amnon claimed he loved Tamar, but that is not the case when this “love” begins to take over, causing him to have lust towards his half-sister which is not approving to society. Amnon actually hated Tamar, which proves that Amnon only had lustful attraction towards Tamar, and that he did not truly care for her. Typically, there is both love and lust within a relationship. However, with Amnon, the relationship was only based on what he could physically get from Tamar. He would have stopped at nothing to get her alone with him. So his cousin, Jonadab, helps Amnon come up with a plan to do so. Amnon pretends to be sick and requests that Tamar cook for him and take care of him. Since Amnon is the first born son and always gets what he wants, and since Tamar was a girl, she has no choice but to do as she is told. David called for Tamar to be home,

Tamar means “palm tree” and Amnon means “faithful, stable”. A palm tree is meant to signify fruitfulness. As it is seen, Amnon nor Tamar fulfil the meaning of their names. Amnon was not faithful or stable when it came to Tamar. What Amnon did to Tamar was wrong, but he could still somewhat redeem the situation by either marrying her or paying her bride-price in accordance with Exodus 22:16-17 and Deuteronomy 22:28-29. The payment was meant to compensate for the fact that Tamar was now less likely to be married because she was no longer a virgin. He only worried about what he wanted, such as lust, rather than the relationship between him and his half-sister being frowned upon by society. This is shown when Tamar asks Amnon to wisely consider the results of the action he is wanting to take place. Tamar would be shamed, while Amnon would be revealed as a fool blinded by lust. However, Amnon refused to see the inevitable results of his desire. Seeing as how Amnon was was blinded by his lust, he would have done anything to get Tamar alone. This lead to David sending her home, which is exactly what Amnon wanted. David would then have part in the responsibility of Tamar being alone with Amnon. Amnon claimed he loved Tamar. The events that take place prove that statement wrong. Amnon had mistaken his lust towards Tamar for “love”. All Amnon cared about was what he could get from Tamar, he did not truly care