The Book of Esther tells the story of a titular heroine, a young woman who was taken to become a Persian queen, while her cousin works in his court. While there, a plot is made by the official Haman to murder all the Jews.
One of the fun and more exciting stories in the Bible, the events are commemorated by the uproarious festival of Purim, and the (surprisingly short) book is read in the synagogue that day at an atypically-noisy session.
The story is the basis for the film One Night with the King. And the Veggie Tales episode "Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen." And author Joan Wolf's romance novel The Reluctant Queen: The Love Story of Esther.
It was also adapted into a politically-charged Israeli film, titled Esther by Amos Gitai.
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- Anachronic Order: In Christian canonical ordering, the Book of Esther comes after the book of Nehemiah, even though its events come directly before. (In the Jewish ordering, Esther is grouped with the literary books and Nehemiah with the late historical books, in different subsections of the Bible.)
- Artistic License — History: Although it's very clear there was King Xerxes/Ahasuerus (actually, a couple of them, the one from this book usually identified as Xerxes I), history never says he had a primary wife by the name of Vashti. His primary queen is known as Amestris. Although it's clear he had a royal harem full of other, "lesser" queens, there is no record of a "beauty contest" held to obtain them. He most likely obtained these wives and concubines in the same way that most kings of that time and place obtained their wives and concubines: through Altar Diplomacy. Amestris is also never shown to get divorced by him nor deposed from her position as queen.
- Audience Participation: When the book is read aloud during Purim, audiences are expected to boo and jeer every time they hear the name of Haman. Noisemakers are even provided just so we can be sure his name is properly drowned out.
- Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: A longer version with all the girls (including Esther) selected for the contest.
- Beauty Contest: Xerxes has a very elaborate one to choose the new queen. No surprises: the winner is Esther.
- Bowdlerise: Many people hear the search for a queen portrayed as a beauty contest. While physical beauty was part of it, it was really more about who could "please the king" the most... in bed. In other words, it was more of a Casting Couch than a beauty contest. Also, these girls had little to no say in whether or not they actually joined the royal harem.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- If anyone visits the king without him having called for it, the visitor is to be killed unless it's one the king decides he's glad to see. Naturally, this puts a snag in Esther addressing to the king the matter of the Jews.
- When Haman finds out Mordecai's reason for not bowing down to him is that Mordecai is a Jew, he decides to massacre all the Jews.
- Evil Chancellor: Haman is one of the earliest examples and one of the evilest.
- Final Solution: What Haman proposes regarding the Persian Jews.
- Forgot I Could Change the Rules: Averted. The king is maneuvered into creating a law that would allow all the Jews to be massacred by Haman. When Queen Esther reveals to the king that she's Jewish herself and exposes Haman's plot, the law authorizing pogrom cannot be annulled by even the king. However, there is nothing that prevents him from passing a new law enabling the Jewish population to defend themselves with state support.
- Guile Heroine: Esther is able to keep her head in stressful circumstances, and her courage saves her people.
- Happily Ever Before: For one person; Xerxes' assassination is foiled in this book, but later he was eventually murdered by a court guard. There is also no mention of Esther outside this book.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Haman builds a gallows on which to hang Mordecai. When his plot is discovered, Hangman Haman himself is hanged on it.
- Humiliation Conga: Boy does Haman ever get his comeuppance! First is a Hitler-to-Jesse-Owens mission — he has to publicly honor his hated rival Mordecai, with an elaborate parade that Haman came up with when thinking he'd be the honoree. Then his fancy dinner with the king and queen turns out to be a set-up to expose him as a villain. When he tries to plead with the queen for his life, the king thinks he's trying to assault or rape her and sentences him to death right then and there. He winds up literally "hoist by his own petard" (see above) on the gallows he built for Mordecai. Every detail of Haman's luck is really spiraling downhill. You almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.
- Informed Judaism: Esther's Jewishness is a major plot point, but she apparently passed for a non-Jew well enough that her own husband was surprised to find out her ethnicity/religion. However, hiding her Jewishness from Xerxes before they get married is also part of Mordecai's plan. Possibly a more accurate example of this trope in the story would be the scholarly suggestion that Esther and Mordecai are secular Jews rather than religious ones.
- I Owe You My Life: Mordecai reveals the plot to kill Xerxes, and the king later decides to reward him.
- Jesus Taboo: Rather surprisingly for a book of the Bible, the story never once mentions the name of God. It's generally accepted that the point is God can work behind the scenes In Mysterious Ways even when He is the Unseen.
- Just-So Story: There is no historical evidence Persia ever had a Jewish queen, and one can suppose Esther was invented to explain an already-existent festival of Purim. No doubt, though, that Xerxes was an actual Persian king, the same one who is in 300 as a matter of fact.
- Kneel Before Zod: Haman is furious when Mordecai refuses to bow to him, and decides to kill all the Jews to get revenge.
- Loophole Abuse: How Haman's planned massacre is ultimately prevented. Not even the king can rescind a royal decree once issued — but there's nothing preventing him from issuing a new decree allowing the Jews to defend themselves and, in their turn, take the property of those who tried to kill them.
- Nature Adores a Virgin: The girls selected for a harem are mentioned as being virgins (though some translate it simply as "teenage girls" whether they were actually virgins or not). Esther, in particular, is lauded for her chastity, which is described as being part of her beauty or appeal. [Why that sets her apart when the other girls are virgins too (if "virgins" is the correct translation) is a matter of Fridge Logic; or else it's perhaps something that got Lost in Translation.]
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Haman goes to ask the king for a death warrant for Mordecai, but gets sidetracked when Xerxes asks him what a good reward would be for a man who has done great service for the king. Haman, assuming that he's the honoree, proposes an elaborate public ceremony. Turns out the king was asking about Mordecai, and Haman is ordered to carry out his own plan to honor his hated rival. Humiliation Conga ensues.
- Not What It Looks Like: Haman throws himself at Queen Esther to beg for his life, another thing that backfires — The king comes in at the wrong moment and assumes that Haman is trying to assault/rape her. This does not end well for Haman.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Xerxes calls in Haman to discuss how he should reward a man who has done a great service to the king. Haman, assumes he's the one implied, only to find to his horror that the king meant Haman's hated rival Mordecai.
- Original Position Fallacy: Haman being asked to think up a reward and assuming it's for himself is a textbook example.
- Promoted to Parent: Mordecai has raised Esther after her parents died.
- Replacement Goldfish: Xerxes holds a competition to find a beautiful wife for him to replace his divorced one Vashti.
- Rags to Royalty: Esther gets hand-picked to be the queen.
- Royal Harem: The home of all the women selected for the beauty contest.
- Suddenly Ethnicity: To stop Haman's planned pogrom, Esther makes the big reveal that she's Jewish. Granted, the audience has known this all along, but her own husband is astonished to find out.
- Toilet Seat Divorce: The king divorces Vashti because she refused to appear in public.
- There Are No Coincidences: "It so happened" is a recurring line in this book.
- The Unseen: God is never once mentioned, but the story serves as a great example of Him placing the right people in places where they'll eventually be needed.
- Villains Want Mercy: Haman begs Esther to save his life. It backfires when Xerxes catches him throwing himself at her bed.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Esther is determined to be by Xerxes.
- You Can Leave Your Hat On: A literal case, at least implied. The previous queen, Vashti, is asked to parade before Xerxes' drunken party guests wearing her royal crown — the insinuation being, only her crown. Her refusal sets the story in motion.