, 2001, 2001 Taylor & Francis 0049-7878) 01 $12.00 + 00 From Jewish Monarch to Virgin Queen: Elizabeth | and The Godly Queen Hester MICHELLE EPHRAIM Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts In 1392, Richard IT publicly celebrated his “reconciliation” with the citizens of London with a pageant staged throughout the cit ‘This grandiose performance marked the residents’ forgiveness of the King, who had temporarily taken away many of their jobs after they had refused him a loan, ' Outside of Westminster, amidst an elaborate pageant tableau constructed to look like a forest, a performer in the guise of an angel presented King and Queen with a tablet engraved with symbolic portions of scripture: King, allusions to Christ on the Cross (encouraging forgiveness regarding the unpaid loan) and for Queen Anne, a tablet that “told her that as Esther mediated between the wrath of Ahasuerus and his subjects so she too should mediate between the King and the citizens when the need arose” (Wickham 71). As I examine both the Book of Esther and the thick cultural significations of Esther’s persona during Elizabeth’s reign, it will be my central argument here that the Esther from the Hebrew scripture, invoked in the late fourteenth century to encourage the wife of a male ruler to assume a political role if necessary, served similarly for Elizabeth I’s subjects in the sixteenth century. In the drama The Godly Queen Hester, | argue, Esther’s challenge to her husband’s authority is legitimated as politically—and morally—righteous. As Address correspondence to Michelle Ephraim, Department of Humanities & Art, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, E- mail: ephraim@wpi.edu 605606 MICHELLE EPHRAIM such, the play becomes a lens through which we may explore Esther’s ideological resonance in public affirmations of Elizabeth P's power. Just as the citizens of London refer to the figure of Esther to suggest a more active role for Queen Anne lest her husband should decide again to make the kind of rash decisions that led to the public spectacle of his reconciliation (which undoubtedly only underscored his lack of economic power), sixteenth-century writers also cite the Jewish wife of King Ahasuerus to promote the influ- ence of two of their female monarchs in court: Katherine of Aragon, the intended subject of The Godly Queen Hester's alle- gory, and Elizabeth, under whose reign this interlude is first pub- lished in 1561.? I will argue that Hester’s portrayal of Katherine as the Queen Esther informs later comparisons between Esther and Elizabeth in literary and political discourse. Esther, as she is al- luded to in the sixteenth century, captures for contemporary writers Elizabeth’s particular hybridization of virtue and martial acumen. Although Richard II’s performers imagined the biblical Esther a national heroine famed for her bravado, the original Esther is recognized more for her skill as a dutiful wife than for her success- ful interference with her husband’s policies. The Book of Esther begins with the expulsion of the rebellious Queen Vashti by her husband, the Persian King Ahasuerus, after she has refused his orders to appear before the country’s princes who are assembled for a banquet dinner. Under pressure from his indignant guests, the King declares a decree that will banish his wife from the king- dom—a document that will warn all women throughout the king- dom of the consequences of disobeying their husbands: For he sent letters into all the provinces of the King, into everie province according to the writing thereof, & to everie people after th that everie man shulde bear his owne house, and that he shulde publish it in the language of that same people, (1: 21)" Esther, subsequently, enters the scene as a woman defined in op- position to the impudent Vashti. Under the auspices of her cousin Mordecai (who has advised her to hide her Jewish identity) Esther wins Ahasuerus’ hand during a countrywide search for a second wife, a victory cinched by her demure qualities as well as her beauty.FROM JEWISH MONARCH TO VIRGINQUEEN = 607 While Esther dutifully keeps her secret from her husband, her cousin proceeds to alert the court of a treason plot amongst the King’s servants (2:21—2). Meanwhile, Mordecai continues to po- lice the kingdom for troublemakers. Perceiving the ill will of the King’s advisor, Haman, towards the Jews, he refuses to bow down to him as he rides through the city. Later, indignant at Mordecai’s lack of respect, the vainglorious Haman fabricates rumors of brew- ing Jewish rebellion to the King (3:5, 3:8—9). Ahasuerus, still un- aware of his wife’s true identity, at the behest of his disingenuous advisor orders a decree issuing the execution of all the Jews in his kingdom. After Mordecai solicits help from Esther, she simulta- neously reveals her own identity and exposes Haman’s plan to kill the innocent Jews (8:13). But instead of pol I savvy, it is Esther's lack of rebellious qualities—her obedience to both her husband and cousin—that allows her to name other potential threats to the King’s power: “If it please the King,” she modestly appeals to Ahasuerus “and if I have founde favour in his sight, and the thing be acceptable before the King, and I please him” (8:5), In the Jewish scripture, Esther’s reputation as a submissive woman both placates and facilitates what is the narrative’s central motif within its original context: the subversive “rebellion” of the disempowered Jews. Early Jewish exegetes understood Jewish “chosenness” as affirmed in the King’s decree that the Jews may take vengeance against those who have at any time contributed to their oppression—a decree that prompts many out of fear to con- vert to Judaism (8:13), Indeed, the real hero of The Book of Esther is ultimately not Esther but Mordecai, who, committed to garner- ing leverage for the Jews within the kingdom, secures Esther’s position as Queen. Mordecai, acknowledged earlier by Ahasuerus for his identification of two rebels in the court, attains his full lau- rels as the King appoints him second in command at the conclu- sion of the Book of Esther. Mordecai’s plan depends not only on Esther’s willingness to follow his instructions but, equally, on her obedience to Ahasuerus. Esther’s docility gives Ahasuerus a false sense of security about his own power, and thus furthers Mordecai’s strategy to wrest control