Mimetic Desire In Rene Girard's The Eternal Husband

What is desire and where does it come from? It is the opening question for mimesis theory of Rene Girard. In Girard’s theory, desire comes from mimesis, mimetic desire leads to violence and violence is resolved by sacrifice of the victim. It seems complicated when the readers first encounter such a philosophical theory; however, when examined carefully, Girard’s theory is simple and can be found in everyday life. Girard’s theory of mimetic desire, violence and sacrifice will be discussed in details throughout the paper.
Firstly, Girard distinguishes desire from animal appetite or instinct. Desire, unlike instinct, is not natural or independent; it is interdependent and mediated. Desire, according to Girard, is the imitation of other’s desire.

The story is about the man named Velchaninov encountering another character, Pavel Pavlovich Trusotsky. Pavel Pavlovich is described as the gentleman with crape on his hat to Velchaninov, but later turned out to be one of his old acquaintances and the husband of Natalia Vassilievna, who was once Velchaninov’s lover. Pavel Pavlovich visited Velchaninov to tell him about the death of Natalia Vassilievna. Therefore, the relationship of those two characters is husband and lover of one lady. The object, if considered as Girard’s triangular mechanism, is Natalia Vassilievna; and the model and the mediator would be Pavel Pavlovich and Velchaninov. The object disappeared; though the relationship between the model and the mediator continues. In “The Eternal Husband”, one of the incidents resembles what Girard calls as “double-bind”. Double-bind is, as Girard states, that we want others to admire and love us and what we love; however, when others actually do so, we start seeing them as a threat and competing with them. That incident is, when Pavel Pavlovich asked Velchaninov to accompany him to his fiancée’s house. Although Velchaninov strongly rejected his favor, Pavel Pavlovich begged him for it, making Velchaninov eventually agree to it. Once they reached Pavel Pavlovich’s fiancée’s house, unexpectedly, it was Velchaninov who attracted everyone’s attention in the house. Velchaninov was able to get along and be friendly with everyone in the house and the neighbors; on the other hand, Pavel Pavlovich failed to draw attention and even got teased by the youngsters. Pavel Pavlovich tried to draw attention by imitating Velchaninov. For instance, at the dinner table with the fiancée’s family, the drunken father of the fiancée laughed at everything Velchaninov said. Pavel Pavlovich, “carried away by the competition”, also made some pun to draw attention;