How Mandela took note of Shakespeare's advice not to fear death when he read ...
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 15:30 EST, 10 July 2013 | UPDATED: 18:16 EST, 10 July 2013
Sitting reading in a prison cell on Robben Island determined to fight at all costs for his beliefs, there was a passage in one of William Shakespeare's most famous texts that resonated with Nelson Mandela.
The year was 1977 and Mandela had already served 13 years behind bars for sabotage when he signed his name beside a passage in a copy of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar - a part of the text that sees the play's protagonist facing death without fear.
He had said during trial in a 1960s courtroom that he was prepared to die for his beliefs.
But the words perhaps carry greater poignancy now that the former South African president has been gravely ill in hospital with a lung infection for more than a month.
The marked passage reads in part: 'Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.'
Caesar was replying to his wife Calpurnia's plea not to go to the Senate for fear he would be killed.
The copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare was regarded as the 'Robben Island Bible' by inmates at the time, with each marking off a passage that held particular meaning for them.
London theatre director Matthew Hahn was inspired to write a play about the prisoners' study of the book and described reports that his family is in turmoil as his health fails as 'heartbreaking'.
Earlier this month Mandla Mandela lost a court battle against 16 members of his family who accused him of moving the bodies of three of the former South African president's children without their permission.
Mr Hahn said: 'Nobody wants to see their heroes become human. Let the poor man die, let his ideals live.'
But despite previous reports that the first South African black president was unable to breathe without assistance and his critical state for the past fortnight, Mandela was said today to be responding to treatment.
Current South African president Jacob Zuma said after a visit to see Mr Mandela on Wednesday: 'We are encouraged that Madiba is responding to treatment and urge the public to continue providing support and showering him with love which gives him and the family strength.'
Despite his retirement from public life almost a decade ago, the prospect of Mr Mandela's death has troubled South Africans who see him as a unifying force.
Christopher Thurman from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said: 'Mandela is aware of his own symbolic presence, and if we're trying to fit that into a recognizable Shakespearian archetype, it's really the figure of the `dead king,' and we're left wondering what will follow.'
He added that Mr Mandela fits more the mold of Richard III or Henry V because of the questions posed about what will happen when he dies.
Mandela will turn 95 on July 18 and his foundation's Twitter feed is asking followers to take part in a volunteer initiative to mark the day.
Post a Comment for "How Mandela took note of Shakespeare's advice not to fear death when he read ..."