Vashti, whose refusal to obey the king sets the action in motion, is an interesting character in this drama. In fact, in the first analysis she seems like a heroine -- a woman who had too much dignity to be paraded naked before a drunken horde. There is only one problem. Heroism is not determined from the outside in, but rather from the inside out. From that perspective, Vashti, as we shall see, was a villain.
Judaism defines heroism as an act of overcoming an obstacle that stands in the way of a spiritual objective. Such obstacles are placed before all of us by God, but the level of sacrifice demanded to overcome each such obstacle can vary widely. In the case of one person, genuine heroism may go as far as sacrificing one's life for the sake of another. For another person, genuine heroism may mean sacrificing ego or pride.
Therefore, our question when assessing Vashti's heroism or villainy is: what was she reaching towards and what stood in the way of her achieving that goal?
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