Why is it important for us to know what cloth were hanging in the palace and all the other seemingly extra information at the beginning of the megilla?
This is a great question. Everyone who does any public speaking knows that you need to have a big start (a "hook") and a big finish in order to get the audience interested, and leave them remembering that they enjoyed the speech. I'm always struck by how the Megilah seems to take the opposite approach - heavy on detail early on, a rich and exciting plot that goes by quickly in the middle, and then after the story is seemingly over, more detail on the holiday, the battles, the messages, the taxes etc. Did you ever notice how long it is from when Haman is killed to the end?
Specifically to your question though, on a midrashic level we know that the account is meant to allude to the keilim of the בית המקדש, either because Achashverosh stole the keilim, or imitated them, or because the first פרק (and perhaps the whole megilla, but that's for another day / year) is ALSO an allegory for the King (Hashem) throwing a party and inviting the queen (Bnei Yisrael, to come rebuild the בית המקדש), who refused to come, angering the King (Hashem) who decreed that she (we) should be removed. It is noteworthy again, that we find no record of the decree for death being carried out, only publicized - this is the decree of Haman, setting up the rest of the sefer.
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I like Rabbi Besser's answer a lot. I would like to offer another insight that I think answers this question as well as question 4:
Why after Achashverosh kills somebody does it have to say afterwards and then his anger subsided?
I recently heard a shiur by Rabbi Hayyim Angel of YU who demonstrates the centrality of Achashveirosh to the Purim story. Indulge me as I try to put a long and very detailed shiur into a few words: According to Rabbi Angel, the absence of Gd and the beit hamikdash in the story is as blatant as the repetition of the word "melech" over 200 times in the megillah, in reference to Achashveirosh. Throughout the megillah, Achashveirosh's kingship and power are reiterated time and time again, while Hashem, and any notion of tefilla/relationship with Gd are left out. Achashveirosh's palace is described in great detail as you noticed, and it is portrayed as the center of the Persian empire, and the world at large. Rather than Hashem as the focus of the story, and the beit hamikdash at the center of the world, we have a story of a world where an evil and foolish king dominates. Achashveirosh's centrality to the story is so pronounced that when Haman is hung we hear nothing of the relief of Mordecai and the Jews. All we hear is that the king is no longer angry.
What is the point of this? The point that Rabbi Angel astutely makes is that the Megilla does indeed recount a joyous victory for the Jews. However, the story begins with Achashveirosh's unrelenting power, and it ends with Achashveirosh's power (collecting taxes at the end--seems random, right?) So this world that serves amorality and evil has not changed. And it is only until we, the Jews in galut, learn to make Hashem and the beit Hakidash the center of our world, and uproot the corrupt society that reigns supreme, can we merit the true redemption that the Purim story does not provide. Let me know if you'd be interested in further elaboration!
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