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 …

…Such is the nature of mimetic conflict. The rivals become models for each other’s mimetic desire and the competition heightens endlessly. This human proclivity for mimicry and competition is dramatized in King Lear, in which Shakespeare shows that there is no end to the pattern of mimetic desire. Wherever differences exist, and wherever common interests prevail, the phenomenon provides a structure for an organized community in which competition as well as cooperation is encouraged.