Esther: Active Because of the Situation?

And so the plot thickens. In this week's Megillot class, we discussed Perakim 5-7, otherwise known as "Haman's downfall."

Perek Hey begins with Esther waiting in the courtyard outside of the king's inner chamber where the king was sitting. The king saw Esther and she immediately found favor in his eyes, so he extended his scepter to her, aware of the fact that Esther must truly desire something if she would risk her life like that. And so it goes. Achashverosh asks Esther what she requests and offers her up to half of his kingdom. "If it's good for the king," she responds, "will the king and Haman come to my party today?"Achashverosh accepts, but is wary, due to Esther's choice of words. Why is Haman being invited, he asks himself? Anyway, without a second to lose, Haman is summoned to the party, where Achashverosh asks Esther yet again what she desires. Esther replies and invites the king and Haman to yet another party. Now Achashverosh is on the verge of a breakdown. Maybe they're plotting against me, he wonders.

Meanwhile, Haman was ecstatic. He was getting the best of both worlds. However, his excitement is short-lived, because when he sees Mordechai sitting by the king's gate, he was filled with rage and had to restrain himself from lashing out. When he arrives home, he tells Zeresh and his friends all of his good fortune. But none of it means anything to him after seeing Mordechai. So, being the supportive wife that she was, Zeresh suggests the gallows as a way of getting rid of Mordecahi once and for all. The rationale for the gallows would be that Mordechai disobeyed "dat hamelech," something that could simply not be allowed. Haman should pitch the idea to the king the following day, and chances are, the king would agree. After all, Haman was his right-hand man.

In Perek Vav, the king just could not sleep. He was anxious and paranoid, believing that Esther and Haman were plotting against him. Suddenly, he had an "Eurkea!" moment of insight and brings out his "Sefer Zichronot" to search for a super-special spy (I really wanted to use alliteration) and happened to stumble across the story of Bigtan and Teresh. Realizing he never honored Mordechai for saving his life, the king comes up with the master plan of doing so in the very near future. And guess who comes to join the party? Haman. Lo and behold, he conveniently stands in the king's courtyard, unable to wait to suggest his idea of the gallows. Now the king is REALLY paranoid. He summons Haman inside, and asks him to give the king insight into what he should do to a man he wants to honor. Believing it is him, Haman paints the picture of transforming this man into a "king," dressed in the king's garments, riding his horse, and wearing his crown, making it very obvious that Haman wants him to be king. But today must really not be Haman's day, as he walks out of the palace with orders to do this to Mordechai.

After Haman's no good, very bad day, he returns in a gloomy mood to his house. To make matters worse, Zeresh begins to see that Haman's demise is rapidly approaching. If Mordechai is Jewish and Haman has started to fall before him, he will never prevail. Dun, dun, dun.

In Perek Zayin, Haman is finally vanquished. Haman and Achashverosh attend Esther's party. After a while, Esther makes her plea to the king, to save her people and prevent the genocide decreed upon them. And who is the evil man behind this? You guessed it right. Haman. Achashverosh is furious and goes for a walk in the garden, while Haman begins to beg for his life before the queen. When the king returns, he is in a state of complete wrath, as Haman is on top of Esther. Charvonah chimes in and mentions the gallows. Haman is hanged, and the king's anger abated. Sounds like a happily ever after. Well, not really. The Jews are still in peril.

One of the most interesting ideas in the Megillah is the character development Esther goes through. She begins as a passive, inactive queen, but later transforms into something greater, a leader. Throughout the story, she realizes the necessity of the situation and acts. But, do you think that this was some sort of variation on the flight-or-fight response, where she knew that her life depended on it and therefore mobilized herself to take action? It did, after all, take convincing from Mordechai to make it more personal. Do you think that Esther would have become so active if she didn't recognize that her life was on the line?