Revisiting B.B. Mdledle’s isiXhosa translation of Macbeth (1959): Prophecy, tragedy and history

Abstract

The isiXhosa translator of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, B.B. Mdledle, introduces the play as intlekele (a tragedy), and goes on to discuss  characteristics of the genre; he cites Fate and Fortune as two forces that are vital ingredients of tragedy. The role of the witches’  equivocal prophecies is key here. In Mdledle’s Transkei (Eastern Cape), the issue of prophesying was taken very seriously – not least  because of the prophets Makhanda, alias Nxele, and Nongqawuse, who plunged the region into untold disaster in the nineteenth  century. This article also considers Mdledle’s UMacbeth (1959) as a form of intsomi (fable or cautionary tale), both for schoolchildren and  for older readers. Furthermore, it relates the supernatural elements in Macbeth to Mdledle’s views as a Christian and to African cultural  paradigms.