the old promise
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a promessa antiga.
of the old promise.
The vow named as ancient, from Bento's birth.
'A promessa antiga' names the vow at the heart of the whole novel: Dona Glória's pledge to God, made in fear during a difficult confinement, that if her child lived she would give him to the Church. The adjective 'antiga' measures its age against Bento's — the promise is as old as he is.
That is the quiet horror of it. His life and the vow that would take his life away were born together; he has never existed outside its shadow. Machado keeps returning to this promise because it is the fixed point everything else strains against — Bento's love for Capitú, José Dias's meddling, the whole machinery of the seminary chapters. Here it is simply named, 'antiga,' as if age alone gave it authority.
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Dom Casmurro 21.38 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/domcasmurro/21.38/