Re: Plato, Euripides, and reforming the gods? -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 12:56:10 02/10/08 Sun
Author: Erin Risch
Subject: Re: Plato, Euripides, and reforming the gods?
In reply to: Janelle 's message, "Plato, Euripides, and reforming the gods?" on 18:58:57 02/09/08 Sat

I'm not sure about this, but I assume Girard is talking about the reformers of myth wishing exonerate the "gods" from all their crimes, since the gods resembled men in that they were "wicked, evildoers, indecent, unworthy of honest people, never mind divine beings" (Girard quoting Dionysius of Halicarnassus on p. 78 of Scapegoat). He talks about how often, the cleanest way to do this is to make the crimes of the victim unintentional (otherwise you run the risk of making the community guilty of killing someone who was truly innocent). For instance, Oedipus didn't know he was sleeping with his mother and killing his father. Another method Girard mentions is splitting the victim into perfectly good and perfectly bad characters, such as Oedipus and the sphinx or Saint George and the Dragon (p. 81, Scapegoat).

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