Queen Vashti rightly stands up to her drunken husband the King and refuses to dance and show herself off in front of him and his equally drunk buddies.

His ego is bruised and he's embarrassed in front of his buddies, so he declares that all wives should do what their husband says and disowns Vashti before working on replacing her with a virgin from his kingdom.

He likes Esther best of all the virgins paraded before him.

Then the King starts a vendetta against all the Jews in his kingdom, without knowing Esther herself is a Jew.