Kylie Forster
On
the level of character, story line, and backgrounds, Esther and Judith have
many parallels. Both Esther and Judith are wise Jewish women who are the
heroines of their books. Esther and Judith are both full of bravery, and as a
result they risk their lives to save their people from the hands of gentiles. Both
women are mentioned to be beautiful, and towards the end of their stories they
use this to their advantage, along with thought out planning, to seduce the
foolish kings within their stories. Both of their beauties are mentioned, “The
girl was beautiful in appearance.” (Esth 2:7), and “She was beautiful in
appearance.” (Jdt 2:7). It is mentioned that Judith is a widow, biblical
scholar André Lacocque mentions, “Judith is a rich widow” (Lacocque, 35), while
Esther is an orphan, both protected within Jewish society.
Within the
additions to Esther there is a significant difference in the characterization
of Esther compared to the book of Esther. Within the additions to Esther she is
openly pious, “O my Lord, you only are our king…” (Add Esth 14:3), as is
Judith, “O God, my God, hear me also…” (Jdt 9:4). But within the book of Esther
she is not religious at all; God’s name is not even mentioned throughout the
book. Along with this difference, Esther is deemed as weak and fearful within
the additions to Esther. For example, when Esther presents herself before the
king she is extremely afraid, so much so that she faints (Add Esth 15:7). This
Esther, in comparison to Judith, is much more dependent upon men for her
authority. This is because the once wise, fearless Esther we knew from the book of Esther, is now replaced with an
Esther who is almost dependent upon God.
The use of Esther and Judith's beauty to their advantage is an excellent turn in these religious tales. Certainly one that you don't see when a man is the hero of a religious tale (I also like that both quotes about their beauty are near identical).
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your essay and thought that it was written very well. You do an excellent job of comparing Esther and Judith. I would have liked to see more on the differences between Esther in the bible and Esther in the additions passages. You definitely used te quotes to prove your point and the beauty aspect was something that I did not really notice. I think you did a good job of analyzing the two women and finding their similarities.
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