Irony in the Book of Esther

Irony in the Book of Esther

One must be particularly cautious when applying the techniques of contemporary literary scrutiny to any portion of the bible since the bible, as it is handed to us, is a mosaic of stories written, interpreted and edited by countless individuals over the course of thousands of years. It would therefore be unreasonable to apply the same standards of examination as it would to a literary work that was composed by a single person living during a particular time period. There are very few well-read documents around in this day and age that bear this particular difficulty. In most works of literature it can be assumed that the author has intentionally incorporated irony into the story as a literary device, i.e. a means of attempting satire or creating depth and texture to a work. But, in the case of the bible we cannot always be as certain. It is quite reasonable to assume that much of the irony we stumble upon in the bible is really more a function of the document's haphazard creation rather than purposeful intent on the part of the author. That is to say, it is pointless to truly discuss such issues of irony without the insights of biblical scholarship unless we are to examine the work as "the work itself". Therefore, the following is an attempt to examine the use of irony in the first eight chapters of the book of Esther simply as it exists, purposely neglecting historical circumstance and intent.

Although irony seems to be lurking around every corner in the first eight chapters of Esther, none is greater than the irony which surrounds the Jew Mordeccai. The irony of this character sets the underlying tone for the entire eight chapters and epitomizes the plight of the Jewish people throughout ...

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... give away half his kingdom if only she asked. The fact that he would make such an offer to Esther, a Jew, makes the scene doubly ironic.

The pervasiveness of irony throughout the first eight chapters of Esther seems fitting considering the fact that the entire story takes place under highly ironic circumstances: one man's punishment for choosing to obey the word of God above the word of man. Although most of the irony seems to surround the character Mordeccai, hardly anyone mentioned in this tale is can escape the often cruel twists of ironic circumstance, including the queen for which the story is named, Esther. The interpretation of such irony from the standpoint of how it is use as literary device is probably best left to the biblical scholar, where as the interpretation of such irony from the standpoint of meaning is probably best left to the theologian.