All the World's a Stage by W Shakespeare

3. All the World's a Stage

William Shakespeare

 Before Reading 

Answer these questions.

a. How does life begin?

b. Do you think that the whole world is a stage?

c. Are we the actors in the world? What roles can a person play in his/her life?

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English poet, dramatist and actor of the Renaissance era. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in English language and the world's greatest dramatist. His most famous works include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. 

This poem is taken from William Shakespeare's play As You Like It. With these words “all the world’s a stage” begins the monologue by the character Melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VI of the play. In this poem, Shakespeare has compared life with a stage. The seven stages of a person’s life are infant, school going boy, lover/husband, soldier/fighter, justice/ability to understand the right and wrong, Pantalone (greediness and high in status) and old-age., which can come into your mind when you go through this poem with the theme that a person is the ultimate loser in the game of life.

Reading

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Glossary

furnace (n.): a device for heating

hose (n.): tights, thin trousers that men wore in Shakespeare's time

mewling (v.): crying weakly with a soft, high-pitched sound

oaths (n.): promises

oblivion (n.): a state of nothingness

pard (n.): a leopard

puking (v.): vomiting

sans (prep.): without, lacking

satchel (n.): a shoulder bag for school

treble (adj.): high-pitched

whining (v.): uttering a high-pitched cry

woeful (adj.): sorrowful; distressed with grief

 Summary

The speaker of the poem compares the world to a stage in a theatre where men and women act just like the actors. Every actor makes his/her exit and entrance. Similarly, a person comes to the world when he is born and leaves it when he dies. In his life he plays seven different roles according to his age.

The first role of the drama of human life is infancy. In this act, a child completely depends on a nurse. He cries and vomits in the nurse’s arms. 

In the second stage of life, he emerges as a school boy. In this role he complains all the time. His face shines like fresh morning. He carries his school bag and unwillingly goes to school as slowly as a snail. 

The third role is of a lover. The lover sighs like a furnace and composes serious poems to praise the beauty of his beloved.

The fourth role is played a soldier. The soldier swears oaths and has a beard like a leopard. He is quick in battle. He looks for reputation even at the risk of his life. He is not afraid of death while fighting for reputation. However, his reputation is momentary and hollow like a bubble. 

The fifth role is of a judge. He has a fair round belly. He is fat from eating chicken. Firmness and maturity are reflected in his eyes. He has a well-shaped beard and looks relaxed. He uses many sayings and modern examples to support his arguments of wisdom.

The sixth stage of life takes a person to his old age. He becomes weak and thin. He puts on slippers, spectacles, and trousers of his youth which do not fit his shrunk and thin legs. He keeps pouch with him. His manly voice turns into the childish treble. He pipes and whistles. 

The final role for which a person is responsible is second childhood. During this age the person becomes very old and behaves like a child. It’s the stage of nothingness. He loses all his senses, and quits this world.

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. Why does the poet compare the world with a stage?

Ans:- The poet compares the whole world with a stage because he thinks that all men and women play their respective roles in the world like the actors.

b. What is the first stage in a human’s life? In what sense can it be a troubling stage?

Ans:- The first stage in a human’s life is childhood. It can be a troubling stage of human life as a child cries and vomits in the nurse’s arms. He / she fully depends on others for everything.

c. Describe the second stage of life based on the poem.

Ans:- The second stage of life is school going boy. He makes complaints most of time. His face is like shinning morning. He carries his bag and reluctantly / unwillingly goes to school as slowly as a snail.

d. Why is the last stage called second childhood?

Ans:- The last stage of human life is called second childhood because in this phase of life, he loses all his senses and acts like a child who needs more care from others.

e. In what sense are we the players in the world stage?

Ans:- We are the players in the world stage as we come on the world stage when we are born and leave it when we die like the actors do on the stage in a theatre.

Reference to the context

a. Explain the following lines:

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players

Ans:- These lines have been extracted from the poem, All the World’s a Stage composed by William Shakespeare. In the given lines, the poet asserts that life is like a stage. All the men and women are believed to be actors who act in a drama of life. In a drama every actor enters the stage and acts his part. In the same way, every person plays different roles throughout his or her life as the actors do on the stage.

b. Explain the following lines briefly with reference to the context.

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

Ans:- The given lines are taken from the poem ‘All the world’s a stage’, composed by William Shakespeare. These lines express similarity between the roles the actors play on the stage and humans in their lives.

In a drama, every actor enters the stage, acts his role and then exits. In a similar way, we, enter the world stage when we are born and leave it at the time of death. Like the actors in a drama, we are assigned various roles to be performed. In a person’s life there are seven stages with different characters. When we get our roles completed we quit the stage of our life.

The poet wants us to realize the fact that human life is like the stage of a theatre. A man is fated to act several roles in his life.

c. Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school.

i. Which stage of life is being referred to here by the poet?

Ans:- The second stage of life or school going boy is being referred here by the poet.

ii. Which figure of speech has been employed in the second line?

Ans:-  The figure of speech that has been employed in the second line is Simile. [ a school going boy has been compared with a snail using the connective “like”.]

iii. Who is compared to the snail?

Ans:- A school going boy is compared to the snail.

iv. Does the boy go to the school willingly?

Ans:- No, he doesn’t. He goes to school unwillingly.

d. Simile and metaphor are the two major poetic devices used in this poem. Explain citing examples of each.

Ans:- William Shakespeare has implied the two major poetic devices namely Simile and metaphor in the poem. He uses the first two metaphors in the lines ‘All the worlds’ a stage’ and ‘all the men and women merely players’. He compares the world to a stage in a theatre and all the men and women to actors who perform their roles on the stage. The third metaphor is used when ‘reputation’ is compared to bubble to show that reputation is momentary. Another metaphor is created to equate manly voice to childish treble. The final metaphor is found in the line ‘that ends this strange eventful history’. Human life is compared to the strange eventful history as human life is full of events and incidents, and early memories.

The first simile is used when a school boy is compared to a snail in the line ‘And shining morning face, creeping like snail ‘. He unwillingly walks to school as slow as a snail. This figure of speech continues to compare the lover sighing to the furnace. The heat of the furnace is similar to the passion felt by the lover. By using simile, a soldier is compared to a leopard. This reveals that the soldier is quick, prompt and fast as the leopard.

e. Which style does the poet use to express his emotions about how he thinks that the world is a stage and all the people living in it are mere players?

The poem is written in blank verse with regular metrical but unrhymed lines. The style of the poem is narrative. The narrator compares human life to a stage and all the people to actors. One man in his time plays several roles. In a drama every actor enters the stage, acts his role and then exits. In a similar way, in real life, entrances and exits refer to births and deaths. People appear on the stage when they get birth, play their respective roles and leave the stage when they die. A person in his entire life has to complete seven different stages.

f. What is the theme of this poem?

The theme of the poem is the cycle of human life. A person is destined to play seven different roles throughout his life. Birth is entrance and death is exit. Each role has its own qualities and features. The poem reveals how a person begins his life as an infant, and ends up in the same way, without being aware of what is happening with him. He is the ultimate loser in the game of life

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