British Jewish Literature and Culture: An Introduction

Melodrama and the ‘art of government’: Jewish Emancipation and Elizabeth Polack’s Esther, the Royal Jewess; or The Death of Haman!

“…Levi is best understood to function as what Valman has called a 'malleable form of rhetoric' for Polack to enable her to differentiate respectable Jews from familiar stereotypes. 37 In their first speeches Mordecai and Esther express displeasure towards the king about unjust laws and for allowing them, as Jews, to be 'despised'. Mordecai calls the king 'proud' and 'haughty' (p. 15) and expresses concern for the empire's health through striking metaphors of disease and berates the luxuriousness of the palace: 'till by degrees the fountain of health becomes dried up, and loathsome imbecility reigns predominant' (p. 19).…”