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All the World's a Stage by William Shakespeare
MAIN INTRODUCTION
GLOSSARY
ABOUT POET
ABOUT POEM
MAIN THEME
This poem has presented the real theme that a person is the ultimate loser in the game of life.
This monologue has presented the theme of life and its seven stages. Shakespeare has described these stages that are observed in the life span of a man.
MAIN MESSAGE
Through this monologue, Shakespeare gives us the message of the impermanence of life. How quickly the game of our lives comes to an end and strange events end is portrayed in this speech.
DETAILED SUMMARY
SUMMARY OF JAQUES'S MONOLOGUE
In the very beginning, the speaker has compared the whole world to a stage where men and women are merely players (actors). They have their entrances and exits. They enter the stage (world) when they are born and exit when they die. At this stage, every man has to play seven different roles based on his age during his lifetime.
SEVEN STAGES OF MAN'S LIFE AND HIS ACTS
Infanthood Stage:
The first stage of a man's life is infanthood. He plays in the arms of his nurse (mother). He often vomits and cries at this stage. He is fully dependent on others' care.
Stage of Boyhood:
In his second stage of boyhood, he is a school-going student. He slings his bag over his shoulder with his shining face and creeps to school unwillingly, like a snail.
Stages of a Lover:
He becomes a lover in his third stage. Here, his breath is hot. He is very busy composing ballads for his beloved's eyebrows and yearns for her attention.
Stages of a Soldier:
In the fourth stage, he is aggressive and ambitious, full of strange oaths. He seems like a leopard with his beard. He seeks a reputation in all that he does. He is willing to die in a battle to earn ‘the bubble reputation’. He seems courageous even in the mouth of canon. He is ready to guard his country and becomes a soldier.
Stages of Maturity and Wisdom:
In his fifth stage, he becomes a fair judge with maturity and wisdom. He has a fair, round belly. He seems firm and serious with his eyes and formal-cut beard. He tries to provide fair justice to others.
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Stage of Old age:
In the sixth stage, he is seen with loose pantaloons and spectacles. He becomes a thin old man. His manly voice changes into a thin, childish tone.
Stage of Extreme Old Age (Second Childhood):
The last stage of all is his second childhood. Slowly, he loses his faculties of sight, hearing, smell, and taste and exits from the roles of his life.
Thus, Shakespeare has presented different images of the seven stages of a man’s life in the poem ‘All the World’s a Stage’.
Life is like a drama, and the world is a stage where we are all actors and play our roles.
SHORT SUMMARY
This poem "All the World's a Stage" is a realistic poem that has been composed by the renowned English poet William Shakespeare. The main theme of this poem is that man is the ultimate loser in the game of life. According to Shakespeare, the world is a stage, and everyone is a player. He says that every man has seven stages during his lifetime. He performs seven different roles in his lifetime and finally exits this worldly stage. The first stage of a man's life is childhood. He plays in the arms of his mother. He often vomits and cries at this stage. In his second stage, the man is an unwilling school-going student. He becomes a lover in his third stage. He is very busy composing ballads for his beloved and yearns for her attention. In the fourth stage, he is aggressive and ambitious. He seeks a reputation in all that he does. He is ready to guard his country and becomes a soldier. In his fifth stage, he becomes a fair judge with maturity and wisdom. In the sixth stage, he is seen with loose pantaloons and spectacles. His manly voice changes into a childish treble. The last stage of all is his second childhood. Slowly, he loses his faculties of sight, hearing, smell, and taste and exits from the roles of his life. Thus, Shakespeare has presented pictures of the seven stages of a man’s life in the poem "All the World’s a Stage".
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
a. How does life begin?
Answer:
Life begins with the initial stage of infanthood. This stage is considered as the beginning of our lives, when we are totally dependent on others.
b. Do you think that the whole world is a stage?
Answer:
Yes, I think that the whole world is a stage. Here, we come through the entrance (birth) and perform our different roles in different stages and finally depart through the exit (death).
c. Are we the actors in the world? What roles can a person play in his/her life?
Answer:
Yes, we are the actors in the world. A person can play different roles in his or her life based on his or her age. A person can play seven different roles in his or her life. He or she can play the following roles:
Infanthood, Boyhood, A lover, a Soldier, A Judge, old age, second childhood.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
a. Why does the poet compare the world with a stage?
Answer:
The poet compares the world to a stage because he considers all men and women like the actors of a drama. These actors perform their different roles here on this stage and leave this worldly stage one day.
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b. What is the first stage in a human’s life? In what sense can it be a troubling stage?
Answer:
The first stage in a human's life is the stage of infanthood. It can be a troubling stage in the sense that this stage is a fully dependent stage where the infant is fully under the care of the mother. The infant can cry and even vomit anytime in the mother's arms.
c. Describe the second stage of life based on the poem.
Answer:
The second stage of life is the stage of boyhood. In this stage, the boy is a school-going student. He slings his bag over his shoulder with his shining face and creeps to school unwillingly, like a snail.
d. Why is the last stage called second childhood?
Answer:
The last stage is called second childhood because, at this stage, the man loses his senses of sight, hearing, smell, and taste. He acts like a child and finally exits the roles of his life.
e. In what sense are we the players in the world stage?
Answer:
We are the players on the world stage in the sense that we perform different roles here on this stage. We play seven different roles in our entire lifetime and finally depart from this world stage.
REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT
a. Explain the following lines:
All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players
Answer:
In these lines, the poet has compared the whole world to a stage where men and women are only players (actors). After birth, they perform their many roles here on this worldly stage and finally leave this stage, moving towards their final destination (death).
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,
Answer:
These beautiful lines have been taken from William Shakespeare's realistic poem "All the World's a Stage." These lines are parts of Jacues's monologue. Here, the poet has said that the people in the world have their entrances (birth) and exits (death). People arrive here in this worldly stage through birth and leave this stage through death. A man here on this worldly stage has to perform many roles in his lifetime and leave the stage after his death.
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?
Answer:
The childhood stage of life is being referred to here by the poet.
ii. Which figure of speech has been employed in the second line?
Answer:
In the second line, simile, a figure of speech has been employed where the boy has been compared with a snail using like.
iii. Who is compared to the snail?
Answer:
The school-going boy is compared to the snail.
iv. Does the boy go to the school willingly?
Answer:
No, the boy doesn't go to school willingly. His unwillingness can easily be seen through the motion of a snail towards his school.
d. Simile and metaphor are the two major poetic devices used in this poem. Explain citing examples of each.
Answer:
Here in this poem, we find major poetic devices such as simile and metaphor. The poet has used these poetic devices a lot. The examples of simile and metaphor in this poem are as follows:
a) “All the world's a stage". - Metaphor
b) “And all the men and women are merely players". - Metaphor
c) "And a shining morning face, creeping like a snail". - Simile
d) “Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard”. - Simile
e) “Seeking the bubble reputation” - Metaphor
f) “His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide". - Metaphor
g) “and his big manly voice, turning again towards childish reble". - Metaphor
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?
Answer:
The poet uses a narrative style to express his innermost emotions about how he thinks that the world is a stage and all the people living in it are mere players or characters. These characters go through seven different phases in their lives. He has explained the real aspects of human life for all readers to understand the reality of life.
f. What is the theme of this poem?
Answer:
The theme of this poem is that a person is the ultimate loser in the game of life. A person makes an entry into this worldly stage and performs different roles in his lifetime. Finally, he or she leaves this worldly stage struggling under different circumstances. He or she comes empty-handed here and leaves this stage empty-handed. He or she brings nothing and takes nothing.
REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT
a. Describe the various stages of a human’s life picturised in the poem “All the World’s a Stage.”
Answer:
According to Shakespeare, the world is a stage, and everyone is a player. He says that every man has seven stages during his lifetime. The first stage of a man's life is childhood. He plays in the arms of his mother. He often vomits and cries at this stage. In his second stage, the man is an unwilling school-going student. He becomes a lover in his third stage. He is very busy composing ballads for his beloved and yearns for her attention. In the fourth stage, he is aggressive and ambitious. He seeks a reputation in all that he does. He is ready to guard his country and becomes a soldier. In his fifth stage, he becomes a fair judge with maturity and wisdom. In the sixth stage, he is seen with loose pantaloons and spectacles. His manly voice changes into a childish treble. The last stage of all is his second childhood. Slowly, he loses his faculties of sight, hearing, smell, and taste and exits from the roles of his life. Thus, Shakespeare has presented pictures of the seven stages of a man’s life in the poem ‘All the World’s a Stage.'
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b. Is Shakespeare’s comparison of human’s life with a drama stage apt? How?
Answer:
Yes, Shakespeare's comparison of a human's life with a drama stage is apt. He compares the whole world to a stage where men and women are only actors. In a drama, every player enters the stage, does his or her part, and then exits. In the same way, we enter this world at birth. We lead our lives in different ways. We exit from this world at the time of our deaths. Shakespeare says that every man has seven stages during his lifetime. His opinion related to life is quite right. Players or people come onto this worldly stage, perform their seven different roles, and finally part ways with it. Our lives are divided into seven different stages, and in these stages, we keep on performing different roles and seeking various things in our lives as actors. Here on this worldly stage, we play the roles of an infant, a boy, a lover, a soldier, a judge, an old man, and an extremely old man.
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