Mimetic desire involves a subject (the person desiring), an object (the thing being desired), and a mediator (the person modeling desire) between the two. These three points, when mapped, form a triangle. Hence triangular desire.
Rene Girard’s insight into the shape of desire radically transformed the previously held assumption that desire is strictly horizontal, occurring like a straight line between subject and object. By studying the great works of literature, Girard discovered that human desire is fundamentally imitative: people learn how to desire through others. This discovery forms the basis of mimetic theory.
