Mimetic Desire in Shakespeare's King Lear

             The dynamic of desire is a phenomenon all too familiar to the human condition. Everyday experience attests to the conviction that desire assumes a linear path which projects from the subject directly to the object of the affection. Such a concept embraces the assumption that the object possesses some intrinsic value that naturally elicits an affective response, which is perhaps the dominant opinion about human desire. The feelings generally associated with desire are so naturally drawn out by the object that little doubt is ever given to the authenticity of the experience. The simplicity of the experience immediately provides a satisfactory account of the event, thereby eliminating any need for further investigation. A closer look at social interactions, however, reveals that human desire is mimetic, or mediated-in which case the object desired has no a priori worth, but is merely signaled by a model to be desirable. The structure of desire is therefore triangular, with the model mediating the subject and the object. In King Lear, Shakespeare portrays brilliantly this mimetic disposition of human nature; he demonstrates dramatically how mimetic desire provides the necessary basis for cooperation, as well as for rivalry, in a community of common interests.
             The first scene dramatizes perfectly the mimetic pattern of behavior. At the outset, King Lear calls his daughters together to exhibit their love for him: "Tell me, daughters/...Which of you shall we say doth love us most/ That our largest bounty may extend/ Where nature doth with merit challenge"(1.1.50-55). He tenders the prize of his kingdom and thereby makes it an object of desire. Being the mediator of the desire himself, he initiates the mimetic rivalry among his daughters by setting them against each other for his kingdom. Goneril, modeling him, begins the competition with extravagant flattery and professes a love for her father "that makes breath p...

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Mimetic Desire in Shakespeare's King Lear. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 11:37, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/89094.html