ai should be punished (and all of the Jews along with him) for obeying the laws of God over the laws of man (the kings law) is rather puzzling in itself, but never the less lays the groundwork for the rest of the story. Many of the other ironic circumstances that this character finds himself in converge in chapter 6. In this chapter, the king cannot sleep and requests to review the book of records where he reads of Mordeccai’s uncovering of a plot to assassinate the king. At this point, it has already been decreed by the king’s power that Mordeccai and all his people be put to death simply because Mordeccai did not bow down to one of the king’s officials (Haman). Yet, the king would surely be dead if it were not for the uncovering of the death plot by Mordeccai. And if that weren’t enough, a further twist in the story’s irony occurs as a result of the king ordering Haman to honor Mordeccai as a hero by crowning him, dressing him in royal robes, and parading him around on a royal steed.The fall of the story’s antagonist, Haman, also provides much in the way of irony. Just before he is begrudgingly forced to honor Mordeccai, he has a gallows built “fifty cubits high” to hang from. One minute Haman is telling his friends and wife how much he has become in favor with the king and queen -boasting of his new position in the king’s court- and the next minute he is swinging from the very gallows he just had built Mordeccai …orders of the king. Irony in the first eight chapters of Esther is certainly not limited to the dealings of Mordeccai and Haman, but also surrounds the character of Esther herself. At the beginning of the tale Ahasuerus’s original queen, Vishti, is destroyed because she unexplainably refuses to come to the king. Not only is she punished, but a new law is passed by the king that makes it a criminal offense not to obey the direct orders of a husband, rega...
