Horribly hilarious: An interpretation of Esther

Abstract

Finding humor in the book of Esther is not terribly unusual among those who read, study, and commentate on the book. Sustaining that outlook as the body count grows, however, proves more of an interpretive challenge. This interpretation of Esther, one that both adheres to the biblical narrative and follows a thread of the comic through it, undertakes that challenge. Comedy’s aspects of being revelatory and boundary-drawing enable a reading of Esther as farce that reckons with the troubling violence of Esther, without endorsing its replication beyond the story-world it inhabits.