The Gilded Chamber, also known as The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther, is a novel adaptation by Rebecca Kohn of the Book of Esther.
The novel documents Esther's journey from orphan to queen, encountering various conspiracies along the way and forming deep bonds.
Gilded Tropes:
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Xerxes hands too much power over to Haman as a result of overindulgence on alcohol, choosing to get drunk rather than run his country.
- Despotism Justifies the Means: Haman will go to great lengths to obtain power, and does not care how much blood he has to shed as long as he ends up on top. He goes so far as to regularly execute opponents, real or perceived.
- Domestic Abuse: Haman beats his wife and leaves her little to eat.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Downplayed; Xerxes may be a callous warlord with a propensity for drinking, but his affection for Esther is genuine; and when he finds out that Haman's decree against the Jews affects Esther, he takes it personally.
- Evil Chancellor: Haman works his way into becoming the most trusted advisor of King Xerxes, falsely accusing other advisors of disloyalty and personally executing them.
- Final Solution: Haman decides to have Persian Jewry annihilated in retaliation for Mordecai, also known as "Marduka" refusing to bow to him.
- Happily Adopted: Esther lives a pleasant enough life after being adopted by her cousin Mordecai.
- Kneel Before Zod: Haman forces his fellow members of Xerxes's court to bow to him, and retaliates against one who refuses by attempting genocide on his entire demographic.
- The Purge: Haman regularly has anyone who dares speak out against him, as well as those who pose a threat to his attainment of power, executed. The gallows are a consistent presence in the royal courtyard as a result.
- Wife Husbandry: Esther is initially intended as the betrothed to her cousin Mordecai who adopted her after she became an orphan. The marriage never materialises due to the fact that Esther ends up with Xerxes.
