Suzette

Suzette is the French diminutive of Susanna. Susanna comes from the Greek name Sousanna which is ultimately derived from the Hebrew Shoshana meaning “lily” (the name’s original roots are found in the Egyptian word “sšn” meaning “lotus”). Susanna or Shoshana is a character from the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Daniel, a narrative also recognized by Christians. For those without religious affiliations, Susanna’s story remains a fun read. Essentially, she is a beautiful and happily married Jewish woman wrongly accused of adultery by two disgruntled Jewish elders whose romantic advances she rejected. Angered, they decide to blackmail her by giving her two choices. Either she “lies” with them (that’s Bible-speak for have sex with them) or they threaten to publically accuse her of adultery. The pious beauty chooses certain social shame and the probability of death over committing a sinful act in the eyes of God, so she again rebuffs these morally corrupt men. As the story progresses, Susanna is convicted and sentenced to death in an ancient Biblical version of the O.J. Simpson trial. However, as with any well composed short story, this one has a nail-biting climax which, of course, involves God. God sends Daniel to Susanna’s defense and in a Johnnie Cochran moment (“If the [glove] doesn’t fit, then you must acquit!”), Daniel separates the two elders and asks them individually under which tree did the alleged adultery take place? Of course, the men give disparate answers and so their fraud is revealed. A true Biblical “gotcha” moment. The elders get a taste of their own medicine (they are sentenced to death) whilst Susanna lives happily ever after. The name Susanna also shows up obscurely in the New Testament (Luke 8:3) as a woman mentioned for her role in spreading the “good news of the kingdom of God”.