
Theater Of Envy: William Shakespeare (Carthage reprint)

to collapse, and Shakespeare is a major witness to that event. Even after the disappearance of blood feuds, duels, and similar customs, Christian culture never disentangled itself completely from values rooted in revenge. Although nominally Christian, social attitudes remained essentially alien to the authentic Judeo-Christian inspiration.
Rene Girard • Theater Of Envy: William Shakespeare (Carthage reprint)
Max Weber’s interpretation is rooted in Nietzsche’s reading of Judeo-Christianity as the resentment (ressentiment) of the weak against the strong, the slaves against their masters, the victims against their persecutors. The literal madness of Nietzsche’s attitude is that, close as he was to recognizing the truth of human culture, he willfully espou
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“Qui veut faire l’ange fait la
Rene Girard • Theater Of Envy: William Shakespeare (Carthage reprint)
The sacrificial misreading of the Gospels made the various phases of Christian culture possible. In the Middle Ages, for instance, Gospel principles were superficially reconciled with the aristocratic ethics of personal honor and revenge. With the Renaissance, this edifice began
Rene Girard • Theater Of Envy: William Shakespeare (Carthage reprint)
Like all romantic thinkers, Orsino sees desire as an object/subject relationship exclusively; he systematically short-circuits the third dimension, the mimetic model/obstacle/rival that makes everything intelligible. This is an especially tempting illusion in cases of pseudonarcissism, when all roles are played by the same individual.
Rene Girard • Theater Of Envy: William Shakespeare (Carthage reprint)
always marvel at the naive compulsion that forces these people to divulge the very truth they are trying to hide, but we ourselves will make the same mistake at the first opportunity.
Rene Girard • Theater Of Envy: William Shakespeare (Carthage reprint)
Thanks to the notion of strategy, men can postpone revenge indefinitely without ever giving it up. They are equally terrified by both radical solutions and go
Rene Girard • Theater Of Envy: William Shakespeare (Carthage reprint)
Thus imitation is a double-edged sword. At times it produces so much harmony that it can pass for the blandest and dullest of all human drives; at other times it produces so much strife that we refuse to recognize it as imitation.