Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ prosperity through piety. In "Ben-Hur", this is portrayed through Judah's rise from poverty to great wealth, the challenges he faces to his virtuous nature, and the rich rewards he receives, both materially and spiritually, for his efforts. Wallace's adventure story is told from the perspective of Judah Ben-Hur. On occasion, the author speaks directly to his readers. Wallace understood that Christians would be skeptical of a fictional story on Christ's life, so he was careful not to offend them in his writing. "Ben-Hur" "maintains a respect for the underlying principles of Judaism and Christianity". In his memoirs, Wallace wrote:The Christian
Production of Ben-Hur (1959 film) character touches to the script, such as Ben-Hur's purchase of a brooch for Tirzah and a horse for Messala. Vidal claimed that he worked on the first half of the script (everything up to the chariot race), and scripted 10 versions of the scene where Ben-Hur confronts Messala and begs for his family's freedom. Vidal's claim about a homoerotic subtext is hotly debated. Vidal first made the claim in an interview in the 1995 documentary film "The Celluloid Closet", and asserted that he persuaded Wyler to direct Stephen Boyd to play the role as if he were a spurned homosexual