Unmasking the Purim Characters The Purim story can help us make
meaning of the interplay between our inner and outer lives. BY:
Steve Greenberg Purim is about concealment. More specifically,
it is about movement from the covert to the overt. There is a
sustained tension between what characters are and what they seem
to be that moves the plot forward. It is the careful unraveling
of disguises that makes for salvation. The major characters are
allMarranos disguised in costume. They all struggle to manage a
powerful public persona while hiding an inner secret that, if
revealed, would seem to undo them. By the end, everyone is
unmasked. King Ahashverosh, according to tradition, was not of
royal blood; he had married into Persian royalty. Vashti was the
true Persian princess and, because she refuses to take off her
royal robes, she is banished or killed. She is the only one who
refuses to dress up -- or in this case down -- as something she
is not. Ahashverosh has risen to royal power, but he is not
royal material