Perspective

This part of the study guide will provide you with some ideas that will help you put the speech “I Am Prepared to Die” by Nelson Mandela in a broader perspective.…

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Historical perspective

“I Am Prepared to Die” is considered one of the greatest speeches of the last century because of the context in which it was delivered and because of the way it was composed by Nelson Mandela. The speech was delivered during the Rivonia Trial when Mandela and ten other South African leaders of the movement for equal rights were accused of sabotage against the apartheid state. The speech was remarkable because Mandela openly exposed the injustices of the apartheid regime which…

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Textual perspective

In your analysis of “I Am Prepared to Die”, you should consider looking at the speech in relation to other speeches by Nelson Mandela or other public speeches.

For example, you could look at the speech in relation to Nelson Mandela’s 1994 Inaugural Speech as South Africa’s first democratic president. In contrast to this speech, the 1994 speech is a celebratory one. The speaker reminds the audience of t…