Story from the bible - Research Paper Example

She is a devout and beautiful heroine who first beguiled and then beheaded the Assyrian commander Holofernes. According to significant modern scholars, Judith is a historical romance written for didactic purposes and the author gives more importance to the religious message than to the historical fact. The intrinsic literary merit of the story of Judith had a significant influence on the popularity of the work. “The Book of Judith is a story written for house-hold reading. While it may properly be classed as didactic, yet it is one of those popular tales in which the chief concern of the writer is with the telling of the story rather than with the pointing of a moral, and in which the wish to interest takes precedence even of the desire to instruct.

What gained for the book its high esteem in early times, in both the Jewish and the Christian world, was its intrinsic merit as a story, rather than its religious teaching or its patriotism.” (The Book of Judith: General Information) Therefore, the story of Judith interests anyone who believes in the didactic purpose of the biblical books along with its intrinsic merit as a story. One of the most determining aspects of the Book of Judith is how the story fits into the general nature of the biblical books while also keeping the interest of a popular story.

The Book of Judith tells the story of the pious and ascetic widow who takes on the public role of savior by deceiving and beheading the powerful enemy general, and the beautiful Judith has fascinated historians, artists, writers etc. Significantly, the interpretations by several important scholars has presented her as femme fatale, female warrior, feminist heroine, virtue personified, lying murderer, and saintly beauty and all these interpretations reflected the characteristics of the period of the specific scholar.

“Judith was