Girard's Scapegoat, An Analysis

Girard discusses four stereotypes of persecution: collective persecution, crisis, lack of difference, and persecution of difference. I claim Marie Antoinette is the most important example because she represents the stereotypes of persecution.

In chapter two of Scapegoat, Girard explains the four stereotypes of persecutions and begins explaining the persecution of crisis. Girard claims “people inevitably blame either society as a whole, which cost them nothing, or other people who seem particularly harmful for easily identifiable reasons” (Girard, 1986, p.14). This quote supports my thesis about Marie Antoinette being the most important example of persecution because she was persecuted for being accused of incest. There was no evidence found to support the claims made against her.

Girard argues “the further one is from normal social status of whatever of whatever kind, the greater the risk of persecution” (Girard, 1986, p. 18). Girard’s point is that someone is more likely to persecuted for being different, an outsider, from the society they are in as oppose to if they belong to that society. Marie Antoinette was a foreigner to Paris and persecuted because of this.
As the chapter goes on, Girard continues by explaining collective persecution and the types of individuals who are targeted. Girard emphasizes “by collective resonances of persecutions I mean acts of violence, such as witch hunts, that are legal in form but stimulated by the extremes of public opinion” (Girard, 1986, p. 12). In other words, Girard argues the acts of violence against an individual are led by the opinions formulated by the public rather than the victim’s crimes. People are likely to accuse someone of false accusations in this type of