"'LOOK UP ON ME, SIR': Relationships in King Lear" explores some of the connections between current performance theory and early modern sacramental theology. Protestant reformers objected to "carnal fancies of a local presence," but, rather than regarding the sacraments as mere signs of things absent, they defined them as a "means effectual" for sustaining communion among the faithful. McCoy argues that Shakespeare's drama functions in similar ways, supporting relationships with fictive characters from long ago and placing us "in their present" if not their presence, in the words of Stanley Cavell.

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