Clothing, Conformity, and Power: Garment Imagery in the Book of Esther

Recent scholarship has shown a burgeoning interest in the narrative functions and implications of references to dress and adornment in the Hebrew Bible. Yet the many references to the various clothing items and associated acts of dressing and undressing in the book of Esther have been less explored....

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Quick, Laura 1987- (Author) ; Lyell, Ellena (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2022
In: Vetus Testamentum
Year: 2022, Volume: 72, Issue: 3, Pages: 474-494
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Power / Gender / King / Clothing / Deuteronomistic history / Genesis / Esther
IxTheo Classification:FD Contextual theology
HB Old Testament
HD Early Judaism
HH Archaeology
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Description
Summary:Recent scholarship has shown a burgeoning interest in the narrative functions and implications of references to dress and adornment in the Hebrew Bible. Yet the many references to the various clothing items and associated acts of dressing and undressing in the book of Esther have been less explored. In fact, the book of Esther weaves a complex tapestry of garment imagery, and untangling this tapestry is essential to properly interpreting this text. Through dress, characters can communicate their conformity to certain conventional expectations, affecting the ways in which other characters relate and behave towards them. Characters can utilize dress to express their protest, or conversely hide their true intentions. Crucially, differences in clothing develop distinctions between the power and status of the various characters. Clothing therefore has discrete and important functions in the book of Esther, providing new access to understanding characterisation and plot.
ISSN:1568-5330
Contains:Enthalten in: Vetus Testamentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685330-bja10062