Rene Girard has always seen in Shakespeare's work a supreme example of his mimetic theory applied with genius in a dramatic context. He sees in King Lear a kind of summa which brings to 'a sharp focus . .. the mimetic vision.' Using key Girardian concepts like mimetic desire and rivalry, the crisis of Degree, sacred violence, and the victimage mechanism as hermeneutical tools, and applying them rigorously and systematically to the text may yieldfresh and illuminating insights into one of the greatest tragedies of Shakespeare.peer-reviewe
