MORDECAI: From whence comes
the purpose of a person's life?
Come it by chance, a casting of the lot,
or does a call of destiny
beckon to each of us?
Many have wondered
about my little Hadassah
and why a simple Jewish orphan
was chosen to stand against
the annihilation of her people.
And yet the mystery of the girl
most know as Esther
begins not where one might think,
but 500 years earlier
with a single act of disobedience.
King Saul of the Israelites
had been sent by the Prophet Samuel
to wipe out
an ancient child-sacrificing enemy.
So pervasive was their evil
that not even their oxen nor sheep
were to be spared,
and above all, no survivors left breathing.
My lord, I give you Agag,
king of the Amalekites.
We have also seized for you his livestock.
Even his queen.
What dark portent bid me haste
to cross this land of ours?
How would you accuse me now,
O Prophet?
I carried out your lord's command.
Then why do my ears
ring with the lowing of oxen
and the bleating of sheep?
Your Majesty, the Amalekite queen,
she escaped.
We have the king.
What is one woman?
You fool,
she is with child.
MORDECAI: While the Prophet Samuel
put a swift end to King Agag,
Agag's queen,
fleeing with the seed of vengeance
growing within her,
the Jews never found.
HADASSAH: Uncle Mordecai!
Rebecca, what kind of housekeeper
do you think you are?
Serves you right
for bringing home your work.
HADASSAH:
The caravan arrived this morning.
Well, Susa is the capital of the new world.
Caravans arrive every day.
Not from Jerusalem.
Well, perhaps
you ought to go back and ask them
if they'll arrive the same time next year.
Next year? You promised.
- Rebecca!
- REBECCA: Fight your own battles.
You don't pay me enough
to fight the battle for you.
- Good morning, Hadassah.
- And where have you been?
I'm sorry, Grandmother,
the markets were really busy.
There's a new caravan in from...
- Sore subject.
- Uncle Mordecai,
does not your own heart
long to see our people restored to glory?
It does.
Did not Cyrus the Great conquer Babylon
and free our people from captivity?
He did.
But do we embrace our freedom
and leave this pagan empire
to embrace our destiny?
- Of course not.
- MORDECAI: Lord,
I pray to you day and night
to give me the patience of Job,
give me the wisdom of Solomon.
And what do you give me?
You give me the endless equivocations
of a beautiful, young woman.
Look.
Hadassah, always dreaming.
Maybe...
Here, then, you be the princess.
While many Jews had forgotten
the acts of centuries past,
the descendants of Agag had not.
For Agag's queen did indeed survive
and gave birth to a son.
And she forged for him a mark,
prophesying that one day
an Agagite would arrive,
a descendant of Agag,
who would finally exact vengeance
upon the Jews.
Hadassah, read us a story!
Read us a story!
A story? You want a story?
- GIRL: Hadassah, help!
- Over here.
Are you okay?
HADASSAH: "And King Saul said to David,
"'You cannot go before this Goliath
"'for you are but a youth.'
"David replied,
"'While keeping my father's sheep,
there came a lion and a bear.
"'And I slew them both.
"'This Goliath shall be as one of them
for he defied the armies of the Lord."'
As will Jesse Ben-Joseph,
should he but take one step closer.
With peace, Haman.
- There's little but random news I bear.
- I judge that.
Rumor has it
Queen Vashti plans not to attend
the King's banquet this evening,
in protest of the war.
Apparently the King has no idea.
Some see random news.
Others, opportunities.
Of course,
this is why you are a dispatch rider,
and I am a prince of the Fars.
Tell me, Agagite, what do you do with
the extra darics you connive from me?
I have 10 sons, my lord,
and a wife that makes many demands.
(CHUCKLES)
Ten sons?
You serve the great king well.
Come, come. Go you now.
Speak of me
as you lavish your wife and sons.
ABIHAIL: Happy birthday, Hadassah!
HADASSAH: A stone ball?
Remember, Hadassah,
it is the glory of God
to conceal a matter,
the honor of kings to seek it out.
It's from the Promised Land.
Your great-grandmother
brought it with her.
And like you, its true treasure
is etched within.
PRIEST: Reconsider my proposition.
There is much need for leadership
in Jerusalem.
More stew, my lord?
I don't suppose that in your entire caravan
you have a cook one half as good
as our Rebecca.
Here you are but a poor palace scribe,
one who passes as a Persian, at that.
Are you a Jew?
Or have you become a Gentile?
We're a small people
caught up in a vast and violent empire.
We have capricious princes
who could order our annihilation
with the flick of a finger.
And your presence in the palace
might prevent it?
Probably not.
Look, tell me what I want to hear about.
Tell me about the Temple.
What ecstasy to stand in the presence
of the Almighty!
Like the intimate embrace
of a husband and wife.
It's so much deeper
than mere mortal love.
Oh, hello.
MORDECAI: Now, it came to pass
in the days of King Xerxes,
who ruled over the empire
of the Medes and Persians,
from Ethiopia to India,
that in the third year of his reign,
he decreed a season of feasting.
Rumors of war were in the wind, however,
and some thought this the King's way
of stalling off a much-debated decision
to march on Greece
in retaliation for his father's death
four years before.
MAN: Queen Vashti, Your Majesty.
Enter.
The night's festivities
hold not your interest, dear?
It is long since you summoned me here.
- Your hands have not been idle.
- Not idle,
not gifted either.
MORDECAI: Later, Hadassah,
we'll discuss this later.
I have run out of laters.
The caravan leaves tomorrow.
Did not the priest even say
it would be good for me?
That he would look after me?
You have so much of your
mother and father in you, you know?
And perhaps
I'm just being a very selfish old man.
Do you really want to go to Jerusalem?
Truly.
Then go with my blessing.
Thank you.
Rebecca!
Yes, well,
I will be late coming back tonight.
The feasting has been extended.
All Susa is invited.
All of Susa?
A drunken brawl is no place
for a young lady of purity.
Then why is a good Jew like you going?
All the scribes have to go!
There is war in the air!
(ALL CHATTERING)
The Queen indeed
holds her own feast in protest.
All is prepared as you have asked.
You do know why the princes have asked
you to extend the feast another night.
You are too late
if you seek me to deny them.
Especially now.
Such clamoring to march upon Greece
and avenge my father's death.
How long have you dreamt
of molding Persia
into a pillar of learning and culture?
A flame to make even
the greatness of Greece but a shadow?
You know as well as I,
this is not something that is won in battle
but in the hearts of men.
You would have me do nothing, then?
You're no warrior,
no soldier.
I'd have you stay,
enhance your kingdom,
preserve your throne.
Looking for someone?
I'm fine, thank you.
You can run back to Rebecca now.
Oh, I'm sure you're fine.
Only tell me, Hadassah,
or whoever you are,
how do you intend to get into the palace?
You didn't come to take me back?
Come, or I shall call you
Hadassah the mouse.
Wait!
I appear to you by the gracious command
of the great king of kings,
the emperor of the world, Xerxes,
son of Darius.
Great king.
(ALL CHEERING)
We drink.
We drink also to my guard,
the immortal 10,000,
but I fear I would soon have to send them
out to conquer new vineyards for me.
(ALL LAUGHING)
Then let us drink to Queen Vashti,
the most beautiful in the land.
Bring forth Vashti!
Vashti!
(ALL CHANTING)
Bring forth Vashti!
They are serious? They demand
Vashti be here before all?
Already rumors circulate
as to why the Queen holds her own feast
instead of attending yours.
They sound riotous, my lord.
They fear a divided kingdom.
My lord,
you know the Queen's position on the war.
Send for her.
They go to fetch the Queen.
She must be lovely,
reigning in a place such as this.
None is more lovely than you, my queen.
- My thanks, fair prince.
- Prince?
Why is it for years you threatened
to join the caravans to Jerusalem,
yet you never do?
What holds you back?
Perhaps the courage to face it alone.
What if you had someone to join you?
MAN: The herald returns!
The Queen asks the King's forgiveness.
She cannot leave her guests.
VASHTI: I'm queen, not a pawn,
and I will not lower my dignity
or shame my reign
by wearing the royal crown
before your drunk
and thinly veiled war council.
MAN 1: What news of the Queen?
MAN 2: Where is our queen?
WOMAN: Queen Vashti!
MAN 3: Queen Vashti!
Am I to be a mockery before my subjects?
Or Greece as well?
- Continue, Cousin.
- Might not this
deed of refusal
travel abroad to all women,
making their husbands
contemptible in their eyes?
Will not it be said by all, "Xerxes
commanded his wife to come before him,
"but she came not"?
Vashti's guilty not only of
disobedience to the crown
but against the protocol of our fathers.
And tell me,
what dictates the protocol?
A royal edict must be issued
and written into the rolls of the land
that Vashti...
That Vashti come no more before the King,
but that her royal position
be given to a new queen,
more worthy
than her.
My lord,
what answer do I send the Queen?
Vashti!
Vashti!
(ALL CHANTING)
The land has no more queen!
I wish not to be queen here any longer.
Mordecai is giving me his blessing.
Let us leave tomorrow,
together.
MORDECAI:
Thus the scribes were assembled,
and a decree sent forth.
The princes did indeed press upon Xerxes,
the king, soon to depart for war,
"Leave behind a queen
"to keep the people unified."
Every maiden was to be considered,
the choicest of whom
to be brought from across the empire
and into the palace.
In accordance with the protocol,
young men were also rounded up
to become eunuchs
who would serve the queen's candidates
during their time of preparation.
MORDECAI: There's no need for alarm.
In all likelihood they will not come for you.
And not all that are taken will be chosen.
Doubtless, the queen
has already been selected
through bribery or chicanery.
How do I keep our laws?
How do I pray?
What excuse do I offer God
for not keeping his commandments?
Oh, Hadassah.
God sees the inward observance.
The court is a dangerous place.
I think it will be better
if you forgot that you were a Jew.
If this is a sin, then...
Then let it be on my head.
Promise me that you will do that
if you're taken. Promise me that!
If I am taken,
I will do as you say.
I should give you a different name.
Hadassah is too Jewish.
Esther.
Esther is a good Babylonian name.
Yes. That's what we shall call you
from now on.
Esther of Susa.
Promise me.
Promise me if you are taken.
I said, "If I am taken."
If, if, if.
But for now,
you should look for me
in the streets of Jerusalem,
dancing
like David before the glory of the Lord.
- Hadassah!
- Who?
Uncle Mordecai!
(GASPS)
MORDECAI: Is this the way
the King's orders are carried out?
Senseless brutality
in the middle of the night?
Father, please show us favor
and turn these dungeons
into someplace wonderful.
Is this the dungeon part
or the wonderful part?
(ALL GASP)
Look!
Sarah, it matches your eyes.
Have you ever found anything
so wonderful in your life?
And Hannah,
was it not made for you?
Am I never going to see my mother again?
Only if you wish not to.
Two, three days, and who knows?
Home you go.
Do you think we're not beautiful enough
to be asked to stay, Hadassah?
Welcome to a brand-new life.
The method of your arrival
was not of my choosing.
I am Hagai, His Majesty's Royal Eunuch.
I have been assigned
to oversee your preparation.
All right, it's okay.
(GIRL SCREAMS)
MAN: Don't let them escape. Kill them all.
Which way to the quarter of the Jews?
(GIRL SCREAMS)
(GIGGLING)
You have a very bad habit.
The palace is no place for children.
You think of me as a child?
Well, you're wrong.
I am much younger than that.
How do they call you?
- Esther.
- Curious name.
From where do you come?
I am of the wind
whose sound is heard, yet none can tell
from whence it comes or where it goes.
Well, we gather within the hour.
Try not to blow away before then.
Another 4,000 talents
for metal, weapons, armor.
And we must not forget
the pay of the mercenaries.
I know this is not a favored opinion,
but if used for peaceful purposes,
such amounts could serve many needs.
Two different ways of life are involved.
The Greeks have no king
and they want none.
It is one thing to beat our chests
and parade our boldness
pretending this is
still the empire of our fathers.
But you hear the costs
of an actual campaign!
If we are not honest with ourselves,
I fear we lose much more
than just our stature.
Then, let us sit back and do nothing?
Let the Greeks conquer.
Let them establish democracy.
Would not the King be the first to suffer,
the first to die?
Or does the memory of his father's death
not stir as deep in his bones
as it does in ours?
I speak to you as one
not without empathy.
I, too, have stood in the battle
and stared into the unknown.
For the very sword that took my eye
took from me my manhood as well.
But be at peace.
This is no warfare that you embark upon.
This is only the life
that a great dreamer could imagine,
or at least it can be,
if you so choose to embrace it.
Think not I heard your
whispered orchestrations that night?
And how you drew even me
into your schemes?
In these troubled times
it is easy to name any man traitor.
I even recall a certain campaign
in Ionia under King Darius,
where someone allowed
the defeated Greeks
to keep their own form of government,
their democracy,
instead of placing the protocol
of the empire in control.
Favoring democracy.
The very doctrine to which
all Persia is opposed.
- I followed orders!
- Come. Come, come, come.
(CHUCKLES)
We trouble ourselves with foolish things.
The King asked me to speak. I did.
I obeyed. As you obeyed.
MORDECAI: With suspicion and mistrust
creeping into palace halls,
Haman the Agagite
found the opportunity
he had been waiting for.
He began to strike out more openly
at the Jews living in the outlying land,
painting them
as the true Greek sympathizers,
setting the stage
for his ultimate act of vengeance.
Look.
I am curious
to whether you frustrate me
out of sincerity
or to ensure
that you're never chosen queen.
You assume I actually care about
being chosen queen.
I am serious.
Serious of what?
Finding a real queen?
Is that why you subject us
to these beauty treatments,
these classes?
You do not like our fine instructors?
They simply neglect to
teach us some things.
- Such as?
- Well, seemingly
anything to do with actually being queen:
the thought well thought,
the word well spoken
and the deed well done.
As it is said in the great books.
You read?
Many tongues.
(LAUGHS)
Before I received your "invitation",
I was reading of
Gilgamesh the Babylonian.
ESTHER: And Utanapishtim
spoke to Gilgamesh, saying,
"Gilgamesh, you look worn out
and exhausted.
"What can I do
so that you can return to your land?
"I will tell you a thing that is hidden.
"There is a plant whose thorns
"will prick your hand like a rose.
"If your hands reach this plant,
"you will become a young man again."
Gilgamesh in the original.
I read translation,
never the original.
You read?
There are few pleasures left
to one such as I.
You offer us Hagai's position, my lord,
if we grant you the privilege
of picking a queen?
- Misgath of Persepolis.
- Misgath?
Of unusual beauty.
But up here,
- empty as a beggar's bowl.
- Consider her family.
Daughter of a rug merchant?
Will they not
also shower you with wealth?
MORDECAI: While there were
certainly worse ways
for the candidates to have spent their days
than myrrh baths and beauty treatments,
none of the rumors of riches and glory
stirred more excitement
than the thought of gaining entry
to the royal treasury itself.
Whatever you chose
for your one night with the King
will be yours for the keeping.
Candidates, choose wisely.
(ALL GIGGLING EXCITEDLY)
You stand not impressed?
It matters not what impresses me.
How is one to choose when
they know not what impresses the King?
Will you teach me?
I will do far more than that. Come.
A recent acquisition.
One, I believe,
the King will find most pleasing.
Esther of Susa,
come.
Seat yourself on the stool
and read the scroll.
It is the chronicles of the King,
the royal diary.
Through these doors
you are no longer a candidate.
You are a servant.
Remember the protocol.
To approach uninvited
is death.
I read for the King,
alone?
Like this?
"Daily entry 23.
"Egyptian wheat reserves were reported
"at half the normal levels
due to a recent drought."
"Admiral Xtes was honored
"for serving twenty years
in the Royal Fleet.
"After a lengthy speech,
he promptly keeled over and died."
(CHUCKLES)
"Twenty-five. Three herd of sheep
were stolen from Dirmalmirah,
"Satrap of Midea.
"He requests that the crown send out
the proper authority."
And so Jacob,
also a shepherd by trade,
was sent off into the far, far-off land
where he came across the fair Rachel
tending her father's sheep.
He was smitten,
and went and rolled the stone
from the well,
and watered her flock for her.
Then Jacob kissed Rachel
and lifted up his voice and wept with joy.
When Laban, Rachel's father, heard of this,
he said to Jacob,
"Should you serve me for nothing?
"Tell me, what shall your wages be?"
Jacob said, "I will serve you seven years
for your daughter Rachel."
So Jacob served seven years
tending Laban's sheep.
And they only seemed but a few days,
for the love he had for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban,
"Give me my wife,
for my days are fulfilled."
So Laban threw a great wedding feast,
but in the dark of the evening
Laban brought
his older daughter in to Jacob.
And, behold, in the morning
it was Leah, not Rachel.
Jacob was shocked. He said to Laban,
"What is this thou hast done unto me?
"Did I not serve with thee for Rachel?
"Why, then, have you beguiled me?"
XERXES: Why, then, have you beguiled me?
I must admit that never before
has such a tale been found
in the pages of a royal diary.
Here I expect to be lulled to sleep
by tedious reports,
instead I'm beguiled by a love story.
And how ends your tale?
This Jacob, he's able to have his bride?
He's able to have her?
Only after serving
seven more years for her, my lord King.
Believeth you in such?
Love?
Is it not the greatest commandment?
No matter what God one serves.
- How do they call you?
- Esther of Susa.
Susa? No.
Nothing good ever comes out of Susa.
Look at me.
Come. Come, if you wish to see what I do.
The Greeks, they have a god
of similar form.
His arms will hold the bow,
whose arrows they say are
tipped with love.
Some archers' arrows are tipped
with poison, my lord.
Sometimes
it's hard to tell the difference.
The symptoms are the same.
Perhaps in another time. Some
other place.
You will read to me again.
You must tell no one of this night.
(GASPS)
(TRUMPETS)
(ALL CHEERING)
- XERXES: My Captain.
- Blame me not for this, my lord,
but the princes have ordered us
to begin bringing you candidates
- by the end of the week.
- You jest.
- I am in the middle of...
- At least you'll get it over with.
Besides, these men might enjoy
seeing some ladies around. No?
(ALL LAUGHING)
They tell me you're called Esther now.
Oh, Jesse.
Hatach.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
were pagan names, too.
We're in good company.
Their names were Hananiah, Mishael
and Azariah.
They were thrown into the furnace.
But then what happened?
Come on, I found a way out.
And there's a caravan
leaving for Jerusalem tonight.
So we can get out of this place.
Escape?
Jesse, I... I can't leave.
What if...
- What if I'm chosen?
- What if you're chosen what?
What if you're chosen queen?
Look what they've done to us.
What good could come out of any of this?
Perhaps, instead of
asking questions of our trials...
Trials are meant to ask questions
of ourselves.
They cut me!
I know
we can't be what I hoped,
- but...
- Jesse.
I can't leave. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
HAGAI: Today it begins.
Each of you will be given
one night with the King.
We gather first to honor
Misgath of Persepolis.
You enter as a peasant
and leave a princess.
Here we go.
(WHINNYING)
Steady her.
I'm so sorry...
- Oh!
- Almost there.
XERXES: By the looks of it,
I must be allowing the candidates
to keep their jewelry.
Perhaps a horseback ride
is not the best idea, my lord.
(GRUNTS)
(EX CLAIMS)
You weep not for the candidates
this evening.
- My throat is sore.
- Your throat or your heart?
It has only been a few days
since you read for him.
A few days is a thousand years.
If Xerxes had found pleasure in me,
surely he would've...
You think a eunuch cannot know love?
Back before I was a cripple of a man,
there was one that held my heart.
What became of her?
I know not.
I never found the courage to return
to face her again.
She is beautiful but delicate,
Your Majesty.
Just one more moment, please.
You may approach.
How do they call you?
(GAGGING)
(CHITTERING)
Esther.
This is your day.
We gather to honor Esther of Susa.
You enter as a peasant
and leave a princess.
You can let go of my arm now.
He will be the fortunate one
to choose you.
He will be the one
to whom congratulations are due.
Esther, my arm.
XERXES: The scroll is on the stool.
You may begin whenever you are ready.
Is there a problem?
Did they not tell you I weary
at this procession of candidates?
I simply wanted someone to...
Wait.
You are the one who read to me before.
You tried to beguile me with love stories.
Did you not think I had the sense
to see through your little parable?
The arrogance! You speak to me
as if I was this Rachel
in need of help to look after
my father's sheep.
- My lord, I meant no...
- And this is how you come to see me?
Your only adornment before your
one night with the King.
It is, Your Majesty.
You consider yourself of so little worth
- that I can purchase your love so cheaply?
- I was taught
that when you visit a king,
rather than expect a gift,
one should bring one to lay at his feet.
This is my most
valuable possession in the world.
It is my past, my present, and my future.
And all of it is yours.
Some would call you foolish indeed,
as they would call your Jacob.
Of all commodities, love is the easiest,
and most cheaply purchased.
If it is for sale, my lord,
it is not love.
Even you.
Even you must have a price.
I am neither a buyer
nor a seller of love.
Suppose, my lady,
a man offered you a more treasured gift,
say, a kingdom.
(CRYING)
The only gift I would accept
is your heart.
Then it is yours.
And you did not serve
seven years to get it.
Tell me Esther of Susa,
who are you really?
Tell me of your people.
Teach me of your ways.
My father taught me
it takes the glory of God
to conceal a matter,
and the honor of kings to search it out.
Then marry me.
And we shall spend an eternity
discovering this truth,
together.
Persians, your queen!
(ALL CHEERING)
Know you how many times I tried to
come for you after that first night?
How many evenings
I spent counting the stars
to keep my mind off of you?
How many excuses I created
just to avoid the other candidates?
Fools.
Misfits.
Donkey-brained caricatures of men,
you guaranteed me that Misgath
would be chosen queen.
Who is she? From whence did she come?
Who are her people?
There is little known about her, my lord.
She is called Esther of Susa. An orphan.
We should've stuck to our first plan
and poisoned Hagai ourselves.
- Quiet.
- Poison?
He did not, my lord.
He is far too impetuous.
- Far too...
- You know about poison.
Of course you do.
You were once the royal cupbearers.
Suppose in theory,
you wanted to poison another.
Suppose... Suppose this other
remained nameless,
but was, in effect, one whom
you had once vowed to protect.
My lord prince...
Come, come. Don't look so distressed.
We plot nothing here.
My lord.
(PEOPLE CHANTING)
From India to Babylon,
my sword has spilt the blood of
traitors against the crown.
Proud, arrogant "chosen ones".
Allowed to return to their homeland.
But do they go?
Do they?
(MURMURS GREETING)
Thank you.
How wonderful are the ways of the Lord
that he should have raised up
my little Hadassah
and made her queen.
Have you told anyone our secret?
No.
If you continue to call me Hadassah,
it will no longer matter.
Will you not join me in the palace?
I could have you named
to any post you desire.
My Lord will take care of me.
Do you take care of your lord?
Remember not his orders?
Procure it not from the palace,
so nothing can be traced back to us.
The Jews have apothecaries.
Where is he now?
- You, over there...
- Why cannot a truce be arranged?
Truce?
That devil Memucan
has beaten me twice in a row.
I fear losing you.
I gave an oath
to my father.
He's the one I fear losing you to.
You must dream. You'll be gone much
in the coming months.
Keep this for me.
- But it is yours. I...
- Then be at peace.
I always return for what is mine.
Will thou sit there all day, my lord?
This one.
MORDECAI: Why would they
buy belladonna off you?
Maybe they seek to poison someone.
Very deadly, very quick.
You sold them poison?
A Jew sells poison
to the King's food tasters?
Have you any idea for whom
it might've been intended?
Please, just allow me to see it.
The scribe says it is
for the Queen's eyes only.
(GIRLS GIGGLING)
That is what she told.
A plot to kill the King.
The King should be notified at once,
my lady.
He and Memucan are a day's ride away
at the training grounds.
Then it would be better, my lady,
if I send for the captain of the guard
- to investigate.
- Who else is closest to the King?
Admantha.
This is treachery.
If my lady will permit, I myself
will bring these two eunuchs to you.
I'm armed, so I doubt the need for force.
That will not be necessary.
The King's new captain of the guard
has gone to investigate.
Time was of the essence, my lady.
If only all shared your loyalty
to the King, my prince.
Captain of the guards.
Master Haman, my lady.
What of the eunuchs?
They are being led
to the gallows as we speak.
I found this about their person.
I interrogated them both.
I'm convinced they plotted alone.
Make sure Mordecai's name
is entered in the chronicles
and that it is certified with my seal so
he may be properly rewarded by the King.
ADMANTHA: Please, help yourself.
Only a bite.
Now I no longer ride the highways,
my appetite suffers.
Then may I assume that your fee
for spying for me will be reduced?
My appetite may be less,
not of my sons,
my wife.
Well, that may cost you more, my prince.
Much,
- much more.
- What might you have done?
I would save the King for last.
As in the palace board game.
Rid yourself first
of all of those pieces
that are closest to him.
One
by one.
- HEGAI: My lady, this is foolish.
- I go with or without you.
There are too many rumors
drifting through the palace,
and not enough answers.
These hinges are well-oiled.
There must be plenty who use it.
Lovers always find a way, my lady.
HAMAN: The time has come,
my brothers and sisters,
where we must root out
those amongst our midst
who seek our wreck and ruin!
When a field of crops is defiled by disease,
do we not set it on fire?
(ALL CHEERING)
I am asked why I choose
to speak against these foreigners
and strangers in our midst.
- The Jew!
- The Jew!
(ALL CHANTING)
No, not the Jew.
I, myself, know many an individual Jew
who I am proud to call friend,
but put these individual Jews together,
and what are Egypt,
Assyria, Babylon in their wake?
Lead me away from here, quickly.
You want proof?
Proof!
Pulled from the royal library,
the great scheme of
the Greeks and the Jews
to conquer the world!
For let me tell you,
the Greeks and the Jew
both live by the same evil doctrine.
All men are created equal.
- Do you believe you are equal to a slave?
- ALL: No!
HAMAN: And you believe neither in
the Jewish God, nor in Greek democracy,
but there are others in the palace that do.
Let me now speak of Memucan.
Prince. General.
Arch traitor!
"For services rendered to King Darius.
"Pacification of the Babylonian provinces.
"Payments made to Haman the Agagite."
When? When?
Ask of Memucan
why he allowed the Greeks of Ionia
to retain their democracy.
Ask whose voice is loudest
against the war today
and you will find out it is he!
"Common year."
Thirteen years ago.
HAMAN: My lady.
Are you alone?
- Highly unsafe.
- I was just finishing.
Please.
Allow me.
- Shall I return this for you?
- Thank you.
Something must weigh heavy
on my queen's heart
in order to be kept up
at this hour, reading.
My queen.
- Is her Highness unwell?
- I'm fine.
Perhaps I should retire.
(COUGHS)
MEMUCAN: You're not scheduled
at the palace for more than two weeks.
She'll be wonderfully surprised,
think you not?
Here, read this, my lord.
You do not appear
to be a traitor, Memucan.
Return with me, and I'll have
Admantha investigate
Haman's accusations immediately.
Haman is my appointment.
And we do need him more than we realize.
Truly, Memucan, at one moment you sulk,
you say your name has been slurred,
now you plead for your accuser.
I have enough lives on my conscience.
Chastise him mildly,
and he will perform his duty well
and be more grateful to you
for your leniency.
Spoken like a true Persian.
Never judging a man before all the good
and all the bad are weighed.
Ride with me.
- MORDECAI: So you burnt the evidence?
- Worry not, action will still be taken.
Lest you forget, this Haman
is now head of internal protection.
And lest you forget, I'm still queen.
Yes, but queen subject to
an ancient protocol that no doubt Haman
knows how to manipulate
far better than you do.
Go not by the main gate.
I wish not for the Queen
to be alerted to my coming.
(COMMANDS HORSE)
You must promise me
that you will not reveal this to anyone.
Any more such promises
and I shall have to take a vow of silence.
Rusty old lovers' gate.
I trust you used it much
in your youth, Memucan.
Who do you think had it installed?
Go now.
My love. Oh, how I've missed you.
- Have you?
- Now, what is that supposed to mean?
You looked flushed. Busy morning?
Not as busy as it could get.
No visitors?
You sent for me, Your Highness?
It appears you have
misplaced our necklace.
I wonder if that is all you have misplaced.
(WOMAN EX CLAIMING PLAYFULLY)
Perhaps Your Majesty would like to send
for one of the concubines.
Perhaps not.
You look so much like your father.
Sometimes I forget
how different you truly are.
Makes me wonder all the more why
you feel such need to follow in his steps.
Give her a few more nights,
and then have her brought to me.
ADMANTHA:
You call that public tirade subtle?
You mock me, Agagite.
I need but report
but once to the King of your arrogance.
And your dreams of kingship die with me.
You might be less harsh on the Jews.
You should make yourself
a laughing stock.
The Jews, my prince,
will be your chief weapon by which
you attain power to the throne.
Think, we plan to take the crown by force
when the King is deep in Greece.
What excuse will you use?
Who attacks the land?
Well, no one, actually.
Unless, of course,
you claim it was the Greek-loving Jews.
Memucan expects an apology,
as you predicted.
Well, an apology is a cheap enough price
to pay for a kingdom.
Invite, then, Memucan to your estate.
Presumably so I can apologize to him.
On the way, however,
he will be ambushed.
- ADMANTHA: By whom?
- By my Jews, of course.
Jews who slew him
for being coupled with them as a traitor.
- And what of Memucan's own guard?
- It's merely an apology.
Perhaps you can suggest to Memucan
that if he arrive with a large number,
I might suspect he'd come
to punish me.
One or two guards my men can handle.
And who'll handle you?
Who but you,
my king.
Prepare to die, Greek-lover.
Admantha's men.
Thank the gods you are unharmed,
my lord.
XERXES: Come.
My queen...
MAN: Your Highness,
blood has been spilled.
You are needed at once.
But lord King,
an accusation by a dispatch ride.
Why did you wait so long
to inform anyone of Admantha's plot?
- Surely you don't...
- My lord, I had to but play the traitor
to catch the traitor.
Where are his witnesses, my lord?
What were my motives?
Let this Haman prove his words
or be forever silent.
But what would he have
me show, my lord?
There are no witnesses
to plans forged in secret.
You will not act like that, Admantha.
And was it not even Admantha
who stirred the crowd into demanding
Queen Vashti's appearance,
knowing she would not come?
All lies. That's lies.
Lies. I stand in a crumbling house of lies.
- Remember before whom you plead.
- Plead for what?
For your life, Admantha.
(CRICKETS CHIRPING)
Is it my foolish desire
to believe these stories I hear
or my glaring inability
to perceive their mysteries?
Perhaps you...
You placed them back
upon the shelf to collect dust
without ever truly completing them.
Who is the one that gathers dust?
I believed I was your Rachel.
But it appears I'm only Leah,
and you serve time with me for another.
No, my lord. It's not what you think.
Nothing is as I think anymore.
Plots slither through the night.
Trust, it decays
like secret gates left to rust.
Admantha is carried to torture
even as we speak.
This Jacob and Rachel,
they are no mere story to you.
Give me some incentive
to believe in who you really are.
Give me some honor.
For if it is truly the honor of kings
to seek out truth in lie,
I am a man of scorn.
I will answer you,
my lord, if you first answer me.
Answer you what?
Why did you summon Vashti
when you knew she would not come?
I am king.
And I need answer to no one.
(CRYING)
MORDECAI: After many days of torture,
Admantha, the great Midian prince,
finally confessed all,
and was dealt with
according to the protocol of the land.
For his brave and valorous services,
Haman the Agagite
was proclaimed a prince of the Fars
to inherit Admantha's house,
wealth, prestige and power.
Pieces are falling into place
we've spoken of, one by one.
Soothsaying does not become you,
Haman.
No, my darling,
I speak of the truth, not of stars.
My burden I would not wish on any man.
The blood of my forefathers
will be avenged.
And the gods will smile down on our son
through our obedience.
And are you mad? This is your plan?
It is not that our allies
are unwilling, my lord,
but they have not fared well.
A storm has robbed the Phoenicians
of a good part of their fleet.
Carthage finds herself short in timber
with which to complete our warships...
Surely the fate of the empire
does not hinge on money?
- Are you ready to furnish it, then?
- No, not I, my lord.
But I'm aware of traitors
within our borders that could.
The Jews? We are not children.
Nevertheless, the money may be raised
by the confiscation
of Jewish wealth and property.
And the Jews will just
hand it over without a fight?
No, of course not.
First we must kill them all.
Every last one of them.
It is the only way to ensure
they do not rise up and seek revenge.
He speaks of women
and children, my lord.
Yes, women and children.
I know.
What is your solution?
Or would you rather, my dear Memucan,
the Greeks and the Jews unite
and, hand in hand,
murder us in our beds while we sleep?
Is the past so mighty
that we must destroy our brothers
to be free of its grasp?
No kingdom was ever so grand
as the Jews' own King Solomon.
He fought not one battle,
toiled through not one war,
but prospered upon the peace
handed down by his father.
Do not make void what your
own father's death has purchased.
- By picking back up...
- Mind your tone, General.
Why thirst you for warfare
when we can drink so deeply of peace?
You speak of peace,
let us speak of the Jews.
They would rather bow down to their own
God than obey the laws of protocol.
Their prophets even speak
of a coming king.
A king who will reign over all kings
and set all men free.
Is that not the very essence of democracy,
my dear Memucan?
I do believe, under your guidance,
we are undone.
If we are undone,
we are undone from within, indeed.
March upon Greece, if you wish.
But you march
with no general in your lead.
Then it has not yet been signed into law?
Not as yet, my lady.
Perhaps guilt stirs men too hotly at times,
and they seek the salve of the law
to ease the burning.
And what would you have me do?
I cannot seek him in the library
unless summoned.
If you arrived first,
then he in effect
would be seeking you, would he not?
How came you pass my guard?
I demanded none use the library this night.
I seek that which you seek, my lord.
Truth.
Perhaps the truth
of what exists between us?
I have come on matters of state.
Matters of state.
I see.
And what matters of state might that be?
You desire more perfumes?
You request more condiments?
Surely as queen of the kitchen,
you need not await me here.
You know as well as I how quickly word
travels throughout the palace.
Especially when murder's involved.
You are... You are learned, well-read.
Offer me a story that
answers my dilemma.
- I have never pretended with you.
- Never pretended?
Think you not that I see
Memucan's strings
dangling above your head even now?
You care more for these Jews
than you do for me.
Do you enquire of my burdens,
do you offer me solutions?
No.
You just complain.
- As Vashti did?
- Away from me!
And come before me no longer,
no matter what pretense you seek,
or your fate shall be worse than Vashti.
- But I do love you.
- Love has failed me.
Knowledge has failed me, thus
I bind myself to the protocol
of my fathers and to my empire.
By the next moon, I leave for war.
And whatever my fate,
it shall no longer be shared with you.
This was once your favorite reading.
And though it may no longer
bear the story of love,
it bears that of one Mordecai the Jew.
One of whom you wish to destroy
saved your life.
And you never even honored him for it.
The casting of the lot, the Pur...
It has determined upon which day
all the Jews of the kingdom will be slain.
This day is to be the 13th day
of the month of Adar
according to the calendar of the Jews.
Prince...
The annihilation of a people
can only be authorized by one
who bears the signet of the King himself.
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
MORDECAI: And those letters were sent
into all the land,
to slay and annihilate all the Jews
on the 13th of Adar,
some six weeks hence.
Both young and old,
men, women and even children.
And to plunder all of their possessions
for the sake of the crown.
The scribe insists that
all is dependent upon you, my queen.
Dependent upon me?
My queen might wish
to go before the King and intercede
for those that have no other hope.
My lady...
Have you forgotten your protocol?
To approach the King
unsummoned is death.
Perhaps in court.
But surely you can visit him in private.
In his chambers.
Surely I cannot.
ESTHER: Obedient I have been.
I walk before you with a loyal heart.
And now I stand in the hour of trouble
precisely because of my obedience.
I beseech you, Father,
let there be another way.
Rise up a deliverer and let this pass.
Let this pass.
MORDECAI: "'Comfort,
"'comfort my people,' says your God.
"Cry unto Israel
"that her warfare is finished,
"that her iniquity is removed.
"The everlasting
neither faints nor is weary.
"His understanding no one can fathom.
"He gives strength to the weary
and power to the weak.
"Even the youth shall faint and be weary,
"and young men shall utterly fail.
"But those who wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength."
Lord, we wait on thee.
Renew our strength.
MAN: Clear the way for he who comes.
Kneel before the great prince.
Clear the way for he who comes.
Kneel for the great prince.
You...
Lower yourself to honor
the great Prince Haman. Kneel!
- I said kneel.
- Stop!
- Why do you not kneel?
- I kneel before my king.
I abase myself
only before the God of my fathers.
- What's his name, this God?
- The great I AM.
The one true God,
the maker of heaven and earth.
The God of Abraham,
of Isaac and of Jacob.
A Jew.
Mordecai Ben-Yair.
Mordecai...
I shall name my prize pig after you.
Perhaps I may give you other reasons
to remember my name.
You will remember mine
for this!
Move on.
MAN: What good did that do?
You still ended up
on the ground like the rest of us.
But I did not kneel.
Come, now, you are a mere three days
from being handed a kingdom.
We must not let one Jew rob us of our joy.
That is not good enough.
Then seek permission
to honor the King's departure
with a public execution of a rebel
(ECHOING)
a symbol of your authority
over those that remain.
A gallows, 50 cubits high
with Mordecai right...
The chronicles.
XERXES: Rise.
A matter disturbs me.
You may be of assistance.
I am most pleased, my lord,
for I, too, desire your counsel on a matter.
A certain man
has rendered great service to me.
He has received many honors
amongst his people,
but he once saved my life.
I feel, despite everything, full recognition
has not yet been given him.
What think you, shall be done
for this man in whom the King delights
to honor?
Let a royal robe be sent for,
one his Majesty has donned in public.
And a horse
on whose head a royal crest is set.
Deliver them to
one of the noblest princes of the Fars,
so that he can array the man
in whom the King delights.
And then parade this man
through the streets, proclaiming,
"Thus shall it be done to the man
in whom the King delights to honor."
Most excellent proposal.
Go yourself now
and do all you have suggested.
My lord.
To a one Mordecai,
the scribe who
sits within the King's gates.
Mordecai?
The Jew?
My lady.
- And who is this honored man?
- A scribe.
A Jewish scribe,
who claims to have saved the King's life.
I should think you would be honored
by such a privilege given by the King.
Honored?
The prestige of Persia is at stake.
What will it be said of your husband,
the king, that he commands
his highest prince
to lead a Jew through the streets?
A Jew, my lady!
And how is a Jew
any different than you or I?
They are our enemy.
They must be destroyed.
They may be your enemy, but not mine.
From the way that you defend them,
- one might almost think...
- One might think what,
my prince?
One might think. That is all, my lady.
One might think.
HAMAN: Make your way for Mordecai,
the Jew.
(CROWD CHEERING)
Make your way for Mordecai,
who saved the King's life.
He is the man in whom
the King delights to honor.
All hail for Mordecai, the Jew,
honored of the King.
Beloved of the Queen.
All hail for Mordecai, the Jew.
Honored of the King.
Beloved of the Queen.
(THUNDER CRASHING)
Guards...
My queen,
I bring you word from Mordecai.
You've run out of time.
When the King leaves
for Greece tomorrow,
he will appoint Haman as his regent.
It is our last chance
to stop this edict of death.
He made me vow to speak his words.
You will indeed risk your life
if you go before the King...
MORDECAI: ...but do not think
that if you keep silent
your position
will save you alone from this edict.
For if you keep silent,
deliverance for the Jews
will arise from someplace else,
but you
will surely perish.
Who knows whether
you have come to the palace
for such a time as this?
He said to give you this.
Tell Mordecai to assemble the Jews.
Ask them to fast and pray.
I will do the same.
And in the morning,
arrange for me a litter.
I will array myself as queen
and go before the King unsummoned,
even though it is against the law.
And if I perish,
I perish.
(THUNDER CRASHING)
XERXES: People of Persia,
servants of the crown,
today we embrace our destiny
to raid and rule the world over
and stand against the Greeks
and all who would rob us of our glory.
MAID: Her crown, quickly.
The litter will be here any moment.
- No litter is coming.
- What?
I do not know what you plan, but...
The King leaves for the outpost
within the hour.
I have not time to wait out this rain.
I am not going to allow you
to kill yourself.
No...
- Please tell me you did not.
- What possible assurance do you have
he would lower his scepter
to spare your life?
You do not go into a bedroom of a man,
you go into the hall of a king.
This is not you against him.
This is you against protocol.
You against the empire.
Then I... I go as
David did
before Goliath and the Philistines.
Those are just stories, Esther.
Do you hear me? Just stories.
Know you what I love most
about the story of David and Goliath?
David's victory
came not because he fought well
but because he believed well.
Thus I leave you on this day,
your regent, in my absence,
Lord Haman, prince of the Fars.
It is my will
that each of you obey him in every way,
exactly as you would regard your king.
Unsummoned she comes before the King.
She does.
Is protocol not broken?
- Yes, protocol has been broken.
- Guards!
(INAUDIBLE)
(INAUDIBLE)
(ALL CLAMORING)
...before the King.
(SIGHS)
- We have not time to waste.
- What did he say to your request?
The timing, the faces... I could not ask it.
Not there, not in court.
What then? Do we perish?
We have but one last chance.
You must help me prepare.
A king may lower his scepter
to whoever he wishes.
My lord,
this day your kingdom
has all but been ripped from your hands.
This Esther has dishonored you
more than Vashti ever could.
See not you now
how she has trapped you?
Inviting us to a banquet
to hear her request?
If you go,
the people will deem you to be a pawn.
If you refuse,
a coward.
(DOOR SLAMS SHUT)
There is but one way to proceed.
Is the meal to your satisfaction, my lord?
The night draws late.
Once more I ask for
your petition, my queen.
My petition,
my lord,
is that you allow me to finish a story.
One that I began many nights ago.
The story of Jacob, my lord,
does not finish with marrying Rachel.
Well, they go on to have 12 sons.
And like these 12 pillars that surround us,
they became the pillars of a people.
Surely...
Surely you do not delay an army
only to finish a children's tale?
If I still find favor in your sight,
let my life be given me, at my petition.
And my people at my request.
You demand of me your life
and that of your people?
My dear girl,
I know not of your people.
You have yet to tell me who they are.
Had we been merely sold as slaves,
I would have held my tongue.
This Haman wanted our blood,
my blood, the blood of Jacob, your Jacob.
Your Jacob was given a new name.
Israel.
As, too, was I.
You, Esther?
A Jew?
Not Esther, my lord.
Hadassah Bat-Abihail,
daughter of the tribe of Benjamin,
child of the most high God.
Never have I heard
a more pathetic story in my entire life.
She is no Jew.
She's another Vashti.
Seems it not convenient to you?
An army marches,
and suddenly she is a Jew.
Esther is a Jew.
Your Vashti but protested
the notion of war.
This queen seeks to counter
the very authority of your rule.
A Jew? If such were true,
why did she hide it till now?
Pray, do tell us.
The Almighty has indeed ordained
that my words speak not truth unto you.
At least allow my heart.
For this
which I have offered you,
my most precious in all the world,
the very identity etched within me.
Well, is something supposed
to be happening here?
The stars... Do you not see them?
Do you not see them?
A mockery.
Perhaps not how
you had hoped it would end?
Imagined you that I would beg?
Think you I will beg?
Beg for my life?
Beg like my forefather Agag
before your sword?
Would you like me to beg for you?
Oh,
please, my lady.
Please, Your Highness.
Please spare me.
Spare me my life. You are a lady of mercy.
Spare me.
I beg for forgiveness.
Spare me, spare me, you Jew!
(GRUNTS)
Would he also assault the Queen,
my wife,
while I am in my house?
Harbonah has informed me that
the gallows post stands in Haman's yard
even as we speak. Apparently
intended for one Mordecai the Jew.
Hang him on it.
No!
No!
(GROANS)
What made you come back?
I saw them.
I saw the stars.
(RELIEVED CHUCKLE)
MORDECAI: Thus with one faithful act
has a new generation redeemed
the time of centuries past
and stepped into their destiny.
On this day, I give you your new prince,
and master of audiences,
Mordecai Ben-Yair.
On the day appointed for their destruction,
all Jews shall have the right
to protect themselves
and shall be entitled to take
all the property of their attackers.
And I send forth this story
enjoining all to keep a day
of feasting and gladness.
A celebration to be passed on and retold
through every generation,
to be known as Purim,
or the casting of the Pur
that determined its time.
While we continue onward in the face
of a world filled with uncertainty,
we can rejoice,
for hidden within its mysteries
is the honor of a king.
Thus dictated, I order this decree sent out
under the great seal of Mordecai,
prince of Persia,
a Jew.