Hippolyta’s Silent Knowledge: René Girard’s Reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Abstract

The article centres upon the phenomenon of mimetic desire which, as Rene Girard observes, is responsible for generating violence in the cultural and social sphere. In Girard’s view, William Shakespeare saw and documented the correlation between mimesis and violence, which makes his dramatic œuvre an essentially important text of culture. And A Midsummer Night’s Dream in particular is granted special attention; Girard clearly suggests that it should be an obligatory reading for all modern anthropologists. The article concerns an analysis of Girard’s revelatory reading of the play. It appears that the mimetic process is the thematic and constructional axis of dramatic events; furthermore, it is manifested in numerous transfigurations ultimately leading to violence and myth-creative hallucination. By creating the horizon of interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the mimetic theory reveals also a demystifying power of the comedy. At the same time, it open a new perspective of the meta-theatrical level analysis of Shakespeare’s play.