Rene Girard, Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, and the Goat Song of tragoidia

The central thesis of this book is that Rene Girard’s theory of the scapegoat provides an entirely new and original way of conceptualizing judicial modernity in a manner that is of enormous use and interest to the academic field of law-and-literature. This introductory chapter accomplishes three central tasks. The first is providing a concise definition of the most crucial terms within Girard’s literary and anthropological theories. The second is performing a Girardian analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus, concluding that the primary role of law and legal culture in Girard’s work has been under-appreciated. The third is advancing of my own argument that one of the great attractions of Girard’s theory of mimesis and sacrificial violence is its under-appreciated relevance to the formal study of representations of law within cultural media of both literature and film. A concise definition of law-and-literature that includes law and film studies will also be provided. My general conclusion is that the ethical imperative of the legal drama is essentially identical to that of Girard’s own enterprise: the demystification of the scapegoat and the scapegoating process.