Babylonian Rabbis
The verse states: “On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine” (Esther 1:10). The Gemara asks: Is that to say that until now his heart was not merry with wine? Did it take seven days for him to achieve merriment? Rava said: The seventh day was Shabbat, when the difference between the Jewish people and the gentiles is most apparent. On Shabbat, when the Jewish people eat and drink, they begin by occupying themselves with words of Torah and words of praise for God. But the nations of the world, when they eat and drink, they begin only with words of licentiousness. The Gemara continues to detail what occurred at the feast. So too, at the feast of that wicked man, Ahasuerus, when the men began to converse, 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, i.e., my wife, is neither Median nor Persian, but rather Chaldean. Do you wish to see her? They said to him: Yes, provided that she be naked, for we wish to see her without any additional adornments.
(יד) וַתְּמָאֵן הַמַּלְכָּה וַשְׁתִּי (אסתר א, יב), שָׁלְחָה וְאָמְרָה לוֹ דְּבָרִים שֶׁהֵן נוֹגְעִין בְּלִבּוֹ, אָמְרָה לוֹ אִם רוֹאִין אוֹתִי נָאָה, הֵן נוֹתְנִין עֵינֵיהֶם לְהִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ בִּי וְהוֹרְגִים אוֹתְךָ, וְאִם רוֹאִין אוֹתִי כְּעוּרָה, אַתְּ מִתְגַּנֶּה בִּי. רְמָזַתּוּ וְלֹא נִרְמָז עֲקָצַתּוּ וְלֹא נֶעֱקָץ, שָׁלְחָה וְאָמְרָה לוֹ קוֹמִיס אִיסְטַבְּלָאטִי שֶׁל בֵּית אַבָּא הָיִיתָ וְהָיִיתָ לָמוּד לִהְיוֹת מַכְנִיס לְפָנֶיךָ נָשִׁים זוֹנוֹת עֲרֻמּוֹת, וְעַכְשָׁיו שֶׁנִּכְנַסְתָּ לַמַּלְכוּת לֹא חָזַרְתָּ מִקִּלְקוּלְךָ, רְמָזַתּוּ וְלֹא נִרְמָז עֲקָצַתּוּ וְלֹא נֶעֱקָץ, שָׁלְחָה וְאָמְרָה, אֲפִלּוּ אַנְדִּתִיקוּס שֶׁל בֵּית אַבָּא לֹא נִדּוֹנוּ עֲרֻמִּים, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב
(14) "But Queen Vashti refused (Esther 1:12)": She sent and said to him words that touched his heart. She said to him: If they see that I am fair, they will try to make use of me and kill you. But if they see that I am ugly, you will be denigrated through me". She was speaking subtly to him but he did not understand her subtlety; she was pricking him but he was not pricked...She was speaking subtly to him but he did not understand her subtlety; she was pricking him but he was not pricked. She sent and said to him: "The ekdikus, one found guilty in court, of my father's house were not judged naked.
On Esther’s Vengeance and the Beauty of Women’s Rage
by Nina Coomes, Catapult Magazine
Esther, your story begins not with you, but another woman: Vashti. Vashti is the also-beautiful first wife of King Ahasuerus, who, upon refusing to make herself available for the King to show her off to his guests, is functionally excommunicated. Vashti’s refusal is a puzzling one; as a queen, she likely knew that the consequences of disobeying an order from her King would be one of life or death. She refuses anyway, as if choosing death is better than being a beautiful object to be gazed upon.
But never mind this. This is your story, not hers. In your story, it is her absence that is important because it creates the opening for your entrance. You can only exist because of pain, though it is of another woman. Vashti’s pain in objectification, Vashti’s pain in being thrown out of the palace (but perhaps this could have been mingled with relief?)—in this way too, beauty is pain, or more accurately, here, begets it.
Vashti & Esther: Two Models of Feminism
by Josephine Schizer, The New York Jewish Week
Vashti is defined by her single independent action of refusing to come before the king.
I see Vashti’s refusal to appear before the king as a feminist statement, refusing to participate in something that she didn’t believe in. Although Vashti’s actions have been viewed in different lights, positive and negative, by various midrashim, this view aligns mostly with midrashim that were composed by rabbis living in Eretz Yisrael. She was uncomfortable complying with the king’s wishes and, according to this midrashic school of thought, she thought they were inappropriate. Vashti is one type of feminist, refusing to be a part of something she doesn’t believe in.