Las funciones de la promesa en El Abencerraje

Abstract

This paper explores the promise as one of the most recurrent and significant actions in El Abencerraje. Every character, in a given time, is either bound by a promise or expecting the fulfillment of another’s promise. The promise is used in the text as a valuable piece of social capital: every interpersonal relationship in the text is developed and sealed exclusively through promises. Aside from performing several important technical functions (creating suspense, building and propelling the plot, constructing the characters’ moral constitution), the promise in El Abencerraje constitutes the most important empirical test of virtue, as well as the mechanism by which the two cultures, represented by Rodrigo and Abindárraez, find and exercise mutual respect, trust, and conciliation.