Girardian Joseph
Joseph and his coat of many colors has not only gotten Joseph in persecution’s way but has placed many others at the feet of Girard’s view of persecution and violence from Girard’s Mimetic Theories. Through Girard’s many methods of reasoning, Joseph’s brothers envy him in ways to take his physical spot in the family, but one event after another Joseph ends up earning a spot in the royal palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Throughout Joseph’s childhood, time of crisis, and his time within Pharaoh’s kingdom, many characters experience in one way or another hint of persecution and violence explained through the stereotypes of persecution and mimetic desire. The Girardian analysis of the story of Joseph reveals the need to be right that is innate in humans and how humans react negatively to those who do not have that need to be right.
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This is important to note because Israel at the time is God’s chosen people, and if God’s chosen people are the people “choosing” Joseph that shows a significant difference between Joseph and his brothers and because his brothers want to close that gap between both him and his brothers, the brothers begin to entertain his dreams in ways to try to bring Joseph back down to their status of lack of difference. Genesis 37:8 says “His brothers said to him, ‘Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?’” Girard’s “The Scapegoat”