- Eduardo R.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Feminist (and Anti-Feminist) Themes as Seen in "Esther" and "Deuteronomy"
With the feminist movement quickly gaining momentum in today's world, and the role of women having greatly expanded in importance and pre-eminence over the years, it's near-impossible not to view the Bible through the lens of the feminist ideology. In Deuteronomy, we see a mass objectification of women, to the point that they are treated no better than cattle, and even rape victims get stoned, simply for not asking for help, while their rapists get stoned for having raped another man's wife (Deuteronomy 22:24). We see a powerful anti-feminist sentiment here, among other places, where woman are placed in no better position than any other piece of property owned by a man. By contrast, the Book of Esther features a woman in a position of power. What makes Esther's ascent to royalty so astounding, besides the fact that back then woman did not have many rights, was that she was Jewish, and was thus safe from the bigotry and cruelty endured by her people and, later in the chapter, even has the power to save them from Haman. Esther has to implore her husband, King Xerxes, who is the one to hang Haman in the gallows in the end, to do something about the situation. It could be argued that Esther has to get the help of a man to do anything at all, but in the end, it was her decision. She held her husband's affections, and had the power and courage to save her people, a strong positive female figure as opposed to the oppressed and objectified women seen put down by the laws in Deuteronomy. Thoughts?
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I agree with you completely, I feel there is a very strong contrast between Esther and Deuteronomy in how women are viewed. Esther is probably the only book where women are not seen as inferior to man. From the very beginning in the Hebrew Bible, we also see the creation of woman is very different from that of man’s. God creates man and woman after seven days of creating the world. God had first only put man on Earth, and then he decided to add woman because he believed man needed a partner. Man could not be alone and was in need of a helper. God clearly states, "It is not of that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18). There is a connection between man and woman, for woman was made from a part of the man. This tells us that God thinks that woman is merely there to serve man as a companion. God also spent more time and effort creating man than woman. Man formed from the dust of the ground and the breath of life from God's nostrils. On the other hand, woman was created from the bones and flesh of man, insinuating that woman's creation is of lesser importance than that of man's. Man even goes so far to say, "this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken" (Genesis 2:23). The word "taken" implies a sense of possession and that she is not even her own being, thus creating a clear distinction between man and woman. In Esther, however, Esther has power over her husband, and he is submissive because of her sexuality. The relationship between man and woman is different in this case.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is a huge difference between how women are depicted in Esther as opposed to Deuteronomy. However I can't say that I agree with Eddy's statement that "women are not seen as inferior to men" in this book. While it's true that Esther is the heroine of the story, it is filled with sexism. When Vashti does not want to entertain King Ahasuerus and his friends, he banishes her out of fear that other women would no longer be submissive to their husbands, and would therefore be treated more as equals. Interestingly, there is a popular interpretation that the king asked Vashti to entertain his guests wearing only her crown--so naked. If this is true (and it may have been, considering how drunk the king was) it would be further proof of sexism in the story because of the fact that Vashti is portrayed as a villain for having self respect. Another example of sexism is the use of the harem, where all of the woman sat waiting for the king to summon them to have sex. In my opinion, just because the heroine happens to be a woman does not make this a feminist story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ilana's remark about how one woman in power does not make Esther a feminist story. When stories in the bible have very evident sexism, they are contrasted with the stories about feminine power, but this means that this can't overshadow the objectification and the bad.
ReplyDeleteAn example regarding the objectification of women can be found in Deuteronomy 20:14 "You may however, take as your booty the women, the children, livestock, and everything else in the town, all its spoil..." Spoils are typically defined as "goods" or "objects", and women are classified with livestock and as "booty".
One other thing in Deuteronomy that I was slightly confused by was in 22:5 "A woman shall not wear a man's apparel, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whoever does such things is abhorrent to the Lord your God". Was it disrespectful/criminal to do this because switching clothes was outside a "natural order" or because it was degrading for men to be wearing a woman's clothing?
I agree with Ilana’s comment. In my opinion, it’s true that Esther is a represent of a female power, which is evident through the way she manipulates King Ahasuerus and the way she persuades him to stop Haman from executing all the Jews in the empire. However (to refer back to the question raised in class), she is still primarily seen as an object of sexuality, which we can see as it adds to her manipulative power by her beauty, as she uses it in her favor, to achieve her goals. We can’t even determine if she is actually respected for her other values as a queen, or simply for her beauty and sexuality, “As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor and he held out to her the golden scepter”(Esther 5.2), as he always approves her demands. But is this due to her being irresistible or due to his sincere honor and respect for her? This still indicates the inferior attitude towards women, which is still permeated and present, although seemingly faded away in comparison with other books of Bible we went through.
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