Komentaryo sa Ester 7:5: Rashi & Tze'enah Ure'enah

King Achashveirosh spoke. He said to Queen Esther. Wherever it states, “and he said ... and he said,” twice, it is to be expounded upon. And the Midrashic interpretation of this is: Originally, he would speak to her through an intermediary, but now that he knew that she was of a royal family, he spoke to her personally.²Maseches Megillah 16a.

“Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, who is he?” [7:5]. One asks a question. Why does it say “and he said” twice in the verse? The answer is that when one says something new before the king, the king tells the vizier that he should tell him the news properly.⁴³B. Megillah, 16a. Here too, Ahasuerus asked Haman who was the vizier. However, Haman was speechless and could not answer. Therefore, it says a second time “and he said.” That is, Ahasuerus saw that Haman could not respond. Ahasuerus said to Esther: tell me the news and who is it that wants to kill you and your people. Esther said: the evil Haman wants to kill my people and me. Here one asks a question. Why does the verse tell us that Haman was afraid? It is obvious that he would be afraid. The answer is that Haman was very smart. He did not want to defend himself at the table. He thought that the king was very drunk and very angry. Also, it is very difficult to defend oneself before two people, before the king and the queen. Therefore, he would wait until after the banquet and thought that he would defend himself before Esther alone. When he came to defend himself before Esther alone, the king suspected that Haman wanted to sleep with her and he was even angrier with Haman.