Shakespeare's Promises Carol P. Christ institutions and academia

institutions and academia

Their duties were to build military facilities and airfields overseas

affect identity and perceived lines of division between "us" and "others

autonomous democracy

somewhat critically neglected in the past

Shakespeare's Promises Carol P. Christ institutions and academiaOaths, vows, contracts, and promises are among the most momentous actions human beings can perform, in art as well as life. Although virtually ignored by literary theorists, these obligations motivate plots, test characters, provide rhetorical occasions, structure ironies, and open thematic horizons. According to William Kerrigan, they had particular importance for Shakespeare, who wrote at a decisive moment in the history of promising, toward the end