Hey everyone and Happy Early Thanksgiving. For this proposal I will be looking at Haman, specifically from the oratorio, Esther, by German-British composer George Friederic Handel. I will admit though I'm feeling a bit lazy tonight, so I think I'm just gonna plagiarize from his proposal on TV Tropes. Here we go.
Ha ha ha. Just kiddin. For real though here we go, IN MY OWN WORDS:
What is the Work?
Esther is an oratorio written by George Friederic Handel. It is an adaptation of the Book of Esther from the Bible. The story centers around Esther who has married King Ahasuerus of Persia. Having been given some information about the King's right-hand man, Haman (tongue twister there lol), from her cousin Mordecai, she becomes aware of his plans to assassinate the king. She warns the king despite the risk involved, and Haman is hung in place of Mordecai. If you want more info, you can read the oratorio itself here.
Who is Haman? What Has He Done?
Most of you can probably gather who Haman is even if you yourself aren't religious, but I'll fill you in. Haman is the right-hand to King Ahasuerus of Persia, whom he plans to murder. The one person who knows about this, Mordecai, is also the same person who refused to bow before him. This alone lead Haman to commit genocide against the Jewish people. What makes this act even more disturbing than how it's portrayed in the original Biblical tale, is we actually get descriptions of the murders themselves once Haman follows through on his plans. ("Methinks I hear the mother's groans, While babes are dashed against the stones! I hear the infant's shriller screams, Stabb'd at the mother's breast! Blood stains the murderer's vest, And through the city flows in streams"). It's so disturbing. What's even worst is his wife tells him they should show mercy to the Jews but Haman ignores this and has it his way, saying he will target all of them, regardless of their sex or their age. Mordecai, as I stated before, informs Esther of Haman's plans to assassinate the King, and Haman is arrested. The traitor even begs for his life, but to no avail. As the king is about to have Haman hanged where he was gonna do the same to Mordecai, Haman just curses everyone off and proclaims himself to be the true victim of persecution before he dies.
Miltigating Factors?
Absolutely none. He's a power hungry d-ck who can't stand not being bowed down to, which drove him to commit mass genocide against all the Jews just because one Jew didn't bow down to him. You can't get anymore pity than that. What also helps his case at least a little bit is he doesn't seem to have a wife in this version. He's basically just a ruthless tyrant who will murder innocent women and children to make himself feel better. And he's also a coward who will beg for his life once caught.
Heinous Standards?
I do believe this part is what kept his Biblical counterpart from qualifying. The heinous standards of the Bible are extremely high. What doesn't help is the biblical God seems to do more damage than the actual villains. Heck even the acts of the villains were meant to happen under God's plan. Thankfully, in the case for George Handel, the standards aren't AS high given he doesn't adapt every story from the Bible. Now for the heinous standards, I'm only going to be counting the oratorio's themselves, and the ones based on other biblical tales at that. Cause I'm assuming those are the ones that are canon with each other.
I personally feel the only characters Haman has to really compete with are God and the Pharaoh in Handel's adaptation of Exodus. The other tales he adapts such as the ones about Saul, Joseph and his Brothers, Joshua, and Maccabes, etc. don't have any characters who would match Haman in his genocidal tendencies. So they definitely can't compete with him. I admit i haven't read them, but i do know they basically cover their original stories word for word for the most part. They're pretty faithful. What also helps is Handel seems to be more consistent with treating God as a benevolent force wanting to help His people, and the villains as being the ones who go against His plans for them.
Now how does the pharaoh hold up compared to Haman? Barely at all. None of his crimes or how he treats the Jews are gone over in detail. Hell there's not even a mention of him killing them. only that he "[inflicted] them with burdens", which is way too vague. While the ten plagues performed by God are in the song, they aren't given much detail in the amount of pain they cause the Egyptians. Plus as I said before, God is treated much more as a benevolent force trying to help his people. He does drown the Egyptians but that's only the ones who were attacking the Israelites. If you want to read this song for further research, here you are.
Also, Haman's officers obviously fail the standard because they're simply following his orders, and the King allowed Haman to do what he did cause Haman convinced the king to allow him to follow through on his plans.
EDIT: Ok screw it I read all the Biblical ones to double check EXCEPT for Brockes Passion because I couldn't find an English translation. However considering it only concerns the execution of Jesus, I'm left to assume Haman only has the Romans to compete with. But their execution of Jesus kinda pales in comparison to Haman's attempted genocide. Anyways here are some other villains Haman may have to compete with:
- The Seleucid Empire (Judas Maccabeus): They rage war against the Jews but they suffer from the fact that they are a whole empire as opposed to one person with a personality planning the war.
- The Caanites (Deborah): Again they are a group plus they suffer from offscreen villainy
- Solomon: He is said by David to have slaughtered his enemies, but it's too vague a statement and suffers from off screen villainy.
- Belshazzar: He keeps the Jews captive, but what exactly he does them is not written down.
Conclusion?
A genocidal tyrant who wants to kill a whole race because one wouldn't bow to him? I say he qualifies.