Rivalry (n.) forgets its object as it sharpens: the rivals grow fascinated with each other until all that is left is pure rivalry and prestige.
Rivalry (n.) between doubles needs no Solomon and no sword to destroy what they fight over; it only needs to grow more bitter with nothing to stop it.
Rivalry (n.) is produced infallibly by one recipe: never desire a woman unless another's desire has pointed her out.
Rivalry (n.) is intolerable, but its absence is worse: it leaves the subject face to face with nothingness, so he labours to keep the triangle going or to start it again.
Rivalry (n.) speeds up until it fragments perception itself, so the monster is the dizzy mind's version of identical rivals.
Rivalry (n.) produces phantom affection: King Lear's evil daughters compete in displays of it, and the father takes it for real.