Male Perceptions of Female Power: Case Studies from Vashti and Esther

Few case studies for female power are provided by the Hebrew Bible, but of them, Queen Esther is a story of unique importance. Although the story is named for Esther, the narrative includes two queens, each unique in their approach to power. 

The story begins with King Ahasuerus kicking out his wife, Queen Vashti, after she refuses his order to appear before him in her royal robes. A young — and importantly, beautiful —  Jewish woman, Esther, fills her place. Despite being born outside of the aristocracy, Esther’s marriage to the King makes her royal, and over the course of the story she slowly realizes and utilizes the privileges that her new title of “queen” affords — namely the ability to access and influence the King’s decisions. 

When a community of Jewish people is threatened by Haman, a court official, Esther uses a series of banquets to uncover the plot, convincing the King to punish Haman and save the Jewish people. Esther’s actions reveal some of the powers afforded to a queen. She has the explicit power to, of course, host this banquet, but more broadly, the encounter reflects access to the King  — a pulpit on which she can speak, and influence him.  

Though Queen Esther’s unique access and influential position are apparent to other characters in the story, she herself seems uncertain of this power at first. 

When speaking with her adoptive guardian, Mordecai, Esther expresses concerns with seeking out the King inside his royal court. If she does not win the king’s favor, she will be killed for approaching him unsummoned. Still, she ultimately decides that she “will go to the king, though it is against the law” (713). Though she at first doubts her power, her uncle, Mordecai pushes her to recognize and act on her unique position of “royal dignity” (713). 

Esther is not only allowed to be inside the walls of the palace — granting her access to the King — but the King also wants to see her. It is written that “as soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor” (714). Esther, whose physical beauty initially captured the King’s attention during the courting process, dresses in her royal garments, further signaling her position as queen, and is immediately welcomed by the King to make requests and voice her concerns. 

In this case, it seems that other men, namely Mordecai, recognize Esther’s unique position of power or influence as Queen. Other men, like Haman, also seem to understand the Queen’s unique power over the King, when he pleads to Queen Esther for his life despite knowing it was the king who “had determined to destroy him” (715). The implicit nature of this power — the product of a personal relationship, and not formal documentation or decree — makes this opportunity less apparent, even to the one who holds it. 

While we watch Queen Esther grow into her power over the course of the narrative, we see Queen Vashti, the preceding queen, on her way out of power. While Esther is the more popular case study of ancient female power, Vashti is a far more interesting one. 

Despite the major events that Vashti’s exit causes, she seems a minor character in the story, only appearing briefly in the narrative. A cursory read might tell this version of events: Vashti annoyed the King, and he thus had her removed. She appears powerless, and beholden to every desire of her husband.

But, Vashti is not removed simply because she made the king mad — it's because they fear how her behavior will affect the entire kingdom: “Not only has Queen Vashti done wrong to the king, but also to all the officials and all the peoples who are in the provinces” (709). The story then goes onto clarify the broad implications of her isolated act of disobedience, explaining, “This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will rebel against the king’s officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath” (710). 

The reasoning of King Ahasuerus and the kingdom’s officials reveals what men perceive the unique power of a Queen to be: she has a distinguishable influence over women that a King does not. 

While the narrative actually enforces the King’s ultimate power — he does remove Vashti, and she cannot do anything about it — it also suggests that in the male perception of it, the title of Queen comes with certain privileges that not even a King can control while the title is held. Further, we can glean that this is an exclusive power because the men’s only solution is to remove her from the role entirely, not simply censure or decree over her. 

What is interesting about these two case studies, bound by a single narrative, is that in one, we watch the influence play out, while in the other, the outcome can only be assumed or feared. The King and his advisors are so concerned about the Queen’s perceived potential to influence other women — the unique power she holds over them — but they seem less concerned about how that same soft power of influence is actually wielded against them. 

Though King Ahasuerus removes a too-powerful Vashti, so that she can no longer influence others, they bring in another Queen Esther — who may be a more perfect model to aristocratic wives and women, but has the same great ability to shape the kingdom.

For Additional Reading:

"Esther," The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version, edited by Michael D. Coogan, et al., Oxford University Press, incorporated, 2010.