Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the status a forced sale:

: תְּלוּהּ וְזַבֵּין – זְבִינֵיהּ זְבִינֵי

If one was strung up so that another could coerce him to sell a certain item, and he sold it, his sale is a valid sale. This indicates that a sale under duress is considered a valid sale. Some opinions hold that if one receives payment, though technically he may not want to sell it, his acceptance of the money shows he begrudgingly agrees. (See Beis Yosef, CM 190:12.and Bava Basra 47b.)

The Gemara (Shabbos 88a) relates a metaphysical forced sale, in that the Midrash says that the Jews were forced to accept the Torah:

״וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר״, אָמַר רַב אַבְדִּימִי בַּר חָמָא בַּר חַסָּא: מְלַמֵּד שֶׁכָּפָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עֲלֵיהֶם אֶת הָהָר כְּגִיגִית, וְאָמַר לָהֶם: אִם אַתֶּם מְקַבְּלִים הַתּוֹרָה מוּטָב, וְאִם לָאו — שָׁם תְּהֵא קְבוּרַתְכֶם. אָמַר רַב אַחָא בַּר יַעֲקֹב: מִכָּאן מוֹדָעָא רַבָּה לְאוֹרָיְיתָא. אָמַר רָבָא: אַף עַל פִּי כֵן הֲדוּר קַבְּלוּהָ בִּימֵי אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, דִּכְתִיב: ״קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים״ — קִיְּימוּ מַה שֶּׁקִּיבְּלוּ כְּבָר.

The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. 

Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews established that which they already accepted.  

Arvei Nachal uses the halakhic principle of a forced sale discussed above to explain why the Jewish acceptance of the Torah was valid under duress. Since the Jews received a tangible benefit (their freedom from slavery), the “agreement” was binding. He says this explains the repetitive statements of being taken out of Egypt in the verses (Bamidbar 6:21-23), to emphasize that commitment to the Torah was in exchange for the Exodus.

Regardless of the rationale for how the covenant would be originally binding, the Gemara relates that the Jews fully accepted the Torah after the miracle of Purim. They recommitted to their original agreement. We have discussed many times in Psychology Of the Daf how the Rabbis considered the covenant of the Jewish people and God to be like a marriage, sometimes a stormy marriage at that (Psychology of the Daf, Yevamos 11.)

The idea that what was once felt to be an involuntary burden can be positively reappraised, and turn into something treasured occurs in human marriages as well. There are those who felt they were forced by community pressure into marriage, and others who might realize that they married more to escape their family of origin than genuine connection to their spouse. Even if this was so, and a marriage can start off with the pain of disappointment and mismatched expectations, with respect, communication and genuine caring, passion and love can develop to the point where there is true love and appreciation.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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