(שם, ט) גם ושתי המלכה עשתה משתה נשים בית המלכות בית הנשים מיבעי ליה אמר רבא שניהן לדבר עבירה נתכוונו היינו דאמרי אינשי איהו בקרי ואתתיה בבוציני
The verse states: “Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women, in the royal house” (Esther 1:9). It should have been in the women’s house. Rava said: The two of them had sinful intentions. Ahasuerus wished to fornicate with the women, and Vashti wished to fornicate with the men. This explains that which people say: He with pumpkins and his wife with zucchinis
So too, at the feast of that wicked man, Ahasuerus, some said: The Median women are the most beautiful, while others said: The Persian women are the most beautiful. Ahasuerus said to them: The vessel that I use is neither Median nor Persian, but Chaldean. Do you wish to see her? They said to him: Yes, provided that she be naked.
Because it is with the measure that a man measures to others that he himself is measured. This teaches that the wicked Vashti would take the daughters of Israel, and strip them naked, and make them work on Shabbat. Therefore, it was decreed that she be brought before the king naked, on Shabbat. This is as it is written: “After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her” (Esther 2:1). That is to say, just as she had done, so it was decreed upon her.
The verse states: “But the queen Vashti refused to come” (Esther 1:12). The Gemara asks: Since she was immodest, as the Master said above: The two of them had sinful intentions, what is the reason that she did not come? Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said: This teaches that she broke out in leprosy, and therefore she was embarrassed to expose herself publicly. An alternative reason was taught in a baraita: The angel Gabriel came and fashioned her a tail.
The verse continues: “Therefore the king was very wrathful, and his anger burned in him” (Esther 1:12). Why did his anger burn in him so greatly? Rava said: Vashti sent him a message by way of a messenger: You, son of my father’s stableman [ahuriyyarei]. Belshazzar, my father, drank wine against a thousand men and did not become inebriated, as the verse in Daniel (5:1) testifies about him: “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand”; and that man has become senseless from his wine. Immediately “his anger burned in him” (Esther 1:12).
גַּם וַשְׁתִּי הַמַּלְכָּה עָשְׂתָה מִשְׁתֵּה נָשִׁים (אסתר א, ט), רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בְּרַבִּי סִימוֹן פָּתַח (ישעיה ג, יב): עַמִּי נֹגְשָׂיו מְעוֹלֵל וְנָשִׁים מָשְׁלוּ בוֹ... וְנָשִׁים מָשְׁלוּ בוֹ, אַרְבַּע נָשִׁים נָטְלוּ מֶמְשָׁלָה בָּעוֹלָם, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן, אִיזֶבֶל וַעֲתַלְיָה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, וּשְׁמִירָמִית וּוַשְׁתִּי מֵאֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם.
Queen Vashti also made a feast for women. Rabbi Yehudah in the name of Rabbi Simon explained: "My nation's leaders are children and women rule them" (Isaiah 3:12)... And women rule them: There are four women who took control of government in the world, and they are: Jezebel and Atalya in Israel, and Shmiramit and Vashti from the nations of the world.
The Sages taught: There were four women of extraordinary beauty in the world: Sarah, and Abigail, Rahab, and Esther. And according to the one who said that Esther was greenish, remove Esther from the list and insert Vashti.
גם, כבר בארנו בפסוק א' שאחשורוש בעת שתפס כל המלכות שהיתה תחלה תחת שבט בבל ופקודת כשדים, לקח את ושתי לו לאשה, ועי"כ הודו כולם במלכותם, יען שהמלוכה מגיע לו בנחלה ע"י ושתי שהיא יורשת עצר, ועתה שחשב מחשבות למלוך ממלכה בלתי מוגבלת, שע"ז חרד כל החרדה הזאת בשנותו את כסאו לשושן ובעשית המשתה כנ"ל, שרצה להחשיב את עצמו כאלו כבש הממלכות האלה בחרבו וביד חזקה ימלוך עליהם, ורצה ששרי המדינות יסכימו עמו בזה שינהיג המלוכה בלי הגבלה רק ימשול כרצונו, הנה עתה היו נשואי ושתי כסילון ממאיר בעיניו כי ע"י נשואי ושתי נחשב כאלו מעצמם קבלוהו למלך ע"י ירושת ושתי, וממילא דינו כמלך הנעשה בבחירת העם, שמלכותו מוגבלת ע"פ דתות ונמוסי העמים לכן חשב מחשבות והתנכל להראות כי לא לקח את ושתי מצד יחוסה ולא על ידה הצליח למלוכה, כי בעת כבש המלכות מיד בבל נפסקה מלכות בבל וושתי באתה לידו כשבוית חרב ולא ע"י יחוסה לקחה רק על ידי יפיה, ולא על ידה בא למלוכה, כי נהפוך הוא שהיא מלכה על ידו, באופן שלא יצדק לקראה בשם המלכה ושתי, רק ושתי המלכה, כי אין מלכותה מצד עצמה רק ע"י אחשורוש, ושמה קדם למלכותה, והאות הראשון לזה היה במשתה אשר עשתה, שאם היתה יורשת עצר והוא מלך על ידה, הלא היה ראוי שתעשה גם היא משתה אל השרים, אחר שהיא העיקר במלוכה, וגם שיהיה המשתה בבית מלכותה המיוחד לה מצד עצמה שהיא המולכת מצד עצמה, אבל לא היה כן, רק גם ושתי המלכה מצד שהחליט שעיקר ענינה הוא ... לזה לא עשתה רק משתה נשים לא אל השרים והעמים, וזאת שנית שהמשתה היה רק בבית המלכות אשר למלך אחשורוש, באופן שמורה שהיא אין לה בית מלכות בפ"ע, רק לו לבדו יאתה המלוכה:
We already explained in verse 1 that Ahasuerus, when he took the kingdom which was under the rule of the Babylonians and Casdeans, married Vashti and because of that everyone acknowledged their rule, meaning the kingdom came to him as a birthright through Vashti since she was the inheritor, and now that he was thinking about ruling an unlimited realm (because of this he was so worried and changed the location of his throne to Shushan and made the feast as already explained), since he wanted to think of himself as conqueror of these kingdoms with his sword and wanted to rule them with a strong hand, and he wanted the leaders of the states to agree that he lead the kingdom without limits according to his will, and now his marriage with Vashti became a liability, since his marriage with Vashti was considered as if they [the people] legitimized him to be king through the birthright of Vashti, and he was defined as a king established through the choice of the nation. This means his rule was limited by the religions and traditions of the nations. Therefore he plotted and tried to show that he had not married Vashti for her lineage and that it wasn't through her that he had succeeded to rule, but rather that at the time he conquered the kingdom from Bavel, that kingdom ceased to exist and Vashti came to him as a spoil of war and he married her for her beauty, not her lineage, and that on the contrary she was made queen through him. So it was that it wasn't right to call her Queen Vashti but rather Vashti the Queen, because her queenship wasn't achieved through herself but through Ahasuerus, and her name comes before her title. The first sign of this is in the feast she makes, for if she were the rightful heir and he was king through her, it would be fitting for her to also make the feast for the leaders since she is the main component of the monarchy, and also the feast would be in the palace that belongs to her rightfully as she is the rightful ruler, but it wasn't so: rather, "also Vashti the queen" since he decided that he was the main ruler... Because of this she only made a feast for women, not for the leaders and nations, and this is why it says again that the feast was in the palace that belongs to King Ahasuerus. It teaches that she has no palace of her own, the rule only belongs to him.