Vulnerasti Cor Meum

A comparison of the two scenes, one from Genesis [the deception, in using goatskin, by Jacob of his father Isaac] and the other from the Odyssey [the deception, in using sheepskin, by Odysseus of Cyclops], lends credence to the theory of their sacrificial origins. In each case an animal intervenes at the crucial moment to prevent violence from attaining its designated victim. The two texts are mutually revealing: the Cyclops of the Odyssey underlines the fearful menace that hangs over the hero (and that remains obscure in the Genesis story); and the slaughter of the kids in Genesis, along with the offering of the “savory meat,” clearly implies the sacrificial character of the flock, an aspect that might go unnoticed in the Odyssey.

“We are all persecutors. That is one unpleasant, but practical and productive, takeaway from Girard’s “theory.” We are persecutors who see ourselves as victims. Our competitive and covetous quest for job perks, political clout, sexy bedfellows, or an entrée into an élite clique spreads contagiously through a society and leads us to conflict and ultimately escalation—snubs, sackings, social ostracization, and violence. That imbroglio is still resolved, as it has been since time immemorial, by a scapegoating event that finds a target in someone who cannot or will not retaliate, someone who can plausibly be blamed for the troubles. Girard claims that this scapegoating process is the birth pangs of human culture, and also a page from the diary of our everyday lives.”