Sensed fittingness between act and consequence: The last acts of Esther in the book of Esther and Grace in the film Dogville

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Sensed fittingness between act and consequence: The last acts of Esther in the book of Esther and Grace in the film Dogville
 
Creator Snyman, Gerrie
 
Subject Old Testament; narrative; Film Studies Esther; Dogville; justice; retribution; wisdom
Description The book of Esther employs a wisdom theme to develop the plot and its denouement. The particular illustration of wisdom is that of role reversal. Haman, the second in command, gets kicked out and the leaders of those he sought to lock out filled his position. However, the role reversal becomes more than a mere change in status. As Grace needed to step into her gangster father’s shoes in the film Dogville in order to achieve justice, so Esther had to step into Persian shoes to achieve justice. The execution of justice is an untidy and messy affair. The question this article puts on the table is whether Esther acts with justice in her quest for retribution. In answering this question, the article firstly inquires into the narrative rationality of the story and the denouement of the plot. Related to the book of Esther’s narrative rationality, the article examines the question of wisdom from a narrator’s and character’s perspective. Lastly, it will then put the issue of justice on the table with the help of the film Dogville in order to see whether there is a link between wisdom and justice.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2013-08-22
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Literary analysis
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v69i1.1972
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 69, No 1 (2013); 9 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1972/3767 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1972/3768 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1972/3770 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/1972/3766
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2013 Gerrie Snyman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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