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.
MORDECAl: 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.
- HEGAl: 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 lonia 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.
- MORDECAl: 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 dependant upon you, my queen.
Dependant 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!
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)
(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?
Lmagined 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!
(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.