Character Development in MT Esther
By (author) Bernard Tola
Through this literary reading of MT Esther Bernard Tola determines-in this early example of a novel-whether character change and complexity can be discerned in the four main characters.
Through this literary reading of MT Esther Bernard Tola determines-in this early example of a novel-whether character change and complexity can be discerned in the four main characters: Esther Mordecai Ahasuerus and Haman. Characterization in MT Esther has widely been assessed as flat and unchanging resulting in portrayals that lack depth with the possible exception of Esther herself. In this view the characters remain superficial merely fulfilling archetypal roles or representing static wisdom types.
Tola investigates if the narrative is more concerned with the quality of Jewish life in the diaspora rather than with depicting character. This monograph shows how the author of Esther makes use of a wide range of tools in their work with characterization creating a variety of characters that interact with each other in interesting and sometimes surprising ways.
By applying the anthropological model of Cultural Theory Tola provides a typology for linking worldview and behaviour. Tola uses this for analysing the interactions between different worldviews clarifying the cultural commitments of the four main characters. Other methodologies are used to analyse how the worldviews and psychology of the characters manifest themselves through their speech. They provide a means of investigating the interactions between protagonists and of identifying character changes.
This study establishes that the many clashes between the various characters arise from differences in their worldviews that the result of these clashes is often a change in worldview and that the worldviews of the characters fuel the plot of the narrative. In their own way the four main characters change in the course of the narrative. Their changes are sometimes abrupt sometimes gradual sometimes profound and sometimes do not amount to character development. Their changes are however always important in the narrative.
- By (author) Bernard Tola
Similar Books
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
The Body
Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
Die Jüngerinnen und Jünger im Thomasevangelium
Ein narratologisch inspirierter Zugang zum Text als Einheit
Parola di Dio, di uomo e di Re
L'assoluta verità della Bibbia nella dottrina cattolica di Bacchisio Raimondo Motzo
Übergemeindliche Verbindungen in den Briefen der paulinischen Mission
Vorkommen, Bedeutung, Funktion und Plausibilität
Wie JHWH spricht
Die temporelle Steuerung von Verbalaussagen in den Reden nach den Gottesspruchformeln
Breaking New Ground in John
Imagery, Parables, Characters, Christology, and Ethics in the Fourth Gospel
Volume 531
But the Wise Shall Understand
Reuse of Prophecies, Chronotope, and Merging of Eschatological Horizons in Daniel 10-12
Creation Concepts and Creation Care
Perspectives from Early Judaism, Early Christianity, and Beyond. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics XVII
De-colonising the Biblical Narrative. Volume 4
The Colonial Worldview of the Book of Joshua
Volume 4
Paul and Sacrifice in Corinth
Rethinking Paul's Views on Gentile Cults in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10
Volume 623
