[Raintree 8] All the World’s a Stage

 Summary: All the World’s a Stage

Shakespeare compares this world to a stage where the drama of life is

enacted. All men and women are like actors who take part in a play. They

make their entrance and their exit from the stage during their birth and death

respectively. During his lifetime, a man plays many roles. His life is divided

into seven acts or stages.

The first act is that of a baby that cries and vomits in the hands of a nurse. This

infant grows up to the second stage of being a schoolboy. The speaker draws

the picture of a schoolboy walking slowly to school with his satchel. Though

his face is shining, as it has been probably been scrubbed and washed by his

mother, he is unwilling to go to school, as he is reluctant to leave the protected

environment of his home. The boy grows up to be a young lover who sighs

heavily and sings in praise of his lady’s beauty. He sings songs dedicated to his

beloved, praising her beauty.

The next stage is that of a soldier, brave and ambitious. He wants to gain a

good reputation as a soldier, and does not mind risking his life for it even

though such fame is fleeting and short-lived. The soldier is short-tempered

and quick to pick fights with anyone.

The fifth stage is that of a judge. He has reached a stage where he has gained

prosperity and social status, and expounds the wisdom he has gained in his

life. His clothes are expensive and well cut. He has a round belly and eyes that

don’t have any gentleness in them. He plays his part well.

The sixth stage is about the ageing man. His body shrinks, he loses weight, and

his skin starts to sag. He wears loose clothes and glasses. His once manly voice

starts sounding like a childish treble and when he speaks he makes a whistling

noise. In the last stage, the man experiences second childhood. All his faculties

dim and he is left without any sense of taste, vision and memory. Whatever he

had is taken away from him by nature as he waits for death, his final exit call

from the stage of life.

The entire poem is a metaphor, wherein the speaker compares the world to a

stage and all human beings to actors enacting their designated roles. Life has

been divided into seven stages, spanning from infancy to old age. It is like a

full circle as from babyhood one comes back to second childhood. There are

also metaphors within, as the judge is a metaphor for the middle-aged man.

The tone of the speaker is one of mockery and sarcasm. The lover is presented

in a mocking way by exaggerating his reactions and emotions. The speaker

mocks him by saying that his song of love is not based on an important aspect

of his beloved but her eyebrow, which is a relatively insignificant part of her.

The speaker compares fame and success with a bubble that rises quickly and

then bursts into nothingness as even a slight mistake can tarnish his

reputation forever. 

POEM: ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

Comprehension

A. 1. Infancy or the first stage of life is that of a little baby. According to the speaker, an infant usually

cries or vomits in the arms of the nurse or person looking after it.

2. The speaker drew up a picture of a schoolboy walking slowly to school with his satchel. Though his

face is shining, as it has probably been scrubbed and washed by his mother, he is unwilling to go

to school, as he is reluctant to leave the protected environment of his home. The details help us to

clearly visualise the schoolboy.

3. The lover is presented in a mocking way by exaggerating his reactions and emotions. As the

emotions of a lover flows and ebbs, he sighs loudly. He sings songs dedicated to his lady love, in

praise of her beauty. The speaker mocks this by saying that his song of love is not based on an

important aspect of her but her eyebrow, which is a relatively insignificant part of her.

4. The judge is a metaphor for the middle-aged man. He has reached a stage where he has

gained prosperity and social status, and expounds the wisdom he has gained in his life. The

phrase ‘good capon lined’ represents the rewards one reaps in life. The round belly filled with

many meals of good food symbolises wealth, power, and prestige. The middle-aged man is

serious and formal. The man is at that age when one starts giving advice and stating general

truths of life.

5. In these two stages, a person loses many of the traits he used to possess, while many of his

childhood traits appear again. His clothes seem too big for him as he shrinks in size, his deep

manly voice grows more and more high pitched, eventually resembling a boyish shrill voice. And

like a child, he also becomes naive and carefree, losing all his self consciousness as he slowly loses

everything—his mobility, sight, taste, hearing and so on.

96. The speaker compares the world to a stage and all human beings to actors enacting their

designated roles. Life has been divided into seven stages, spanning from infancy to old age. It is

like a full circle as from babyhood one comes back to second childhood.

B. 1. a. The speaker compares the world to a stage in a theatre and all human beings are in the world

to play their fixed roles.

 b. Each individual plays his or her fixed role. They enter (birth), play their individual parts, and exit

(death). In addition to the different roles of the players, each individual also has several parts to

play in his lifetime. Life is seen as being divided into seven stages, spanning from infancy to old

age.

2. a. The soldier takes the oath to protect his country. His ego and temperamental attitude moves

him to anger very quickly and he is ready to fight at the slightest provocation. The reference

to the leopard also brings in the qualities of a leopard—his agility and prowess in hunting. The

soldier is ready to die and give up everything in search of fame and success though these are

fleeting, temporary rewards.

 b. The speaker highlights the fleeting nature of the fame and success, which a soldier seeks, with a

bubble that rises quickly and then bursts into nothingness as even a slight mistake can tarnish

his reputation forever. The soldier is ready to die and give up everything in search of such fame

and success.

C. Metaphors: All the world’s a stage/And all the men and women merely players/His acts being seven

ages.

Similes: creeping like snail/Sighing like furnace/bearded like the pard

D. Free response

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE POEM

A. Answer in brief.

1. How does Shakespeare introduce the seven stages of man in general before he describes each

phase in particular?

 Ans: He compares the world to a stage in which all of us are actors playing our roles from birth to

death. He says each one of us plays seven parts through our lives.

2. Why does Shakespeare use the metaphor of the stage to describe the seven phases of human

life?

 Ans: He uses the metaphor because he is a dramatist and finds the image of the stage and actors

suitable to describe what he considers the seven phases of human life.

B. Read the lines and answer the questions.

1. with his satchel

 And shining morning face, creeping like snail

 Unwillingly to go to school.

 a. Whose satchel is it?

 b. What is the figure of speech used to describe him?

 c. How is the image of him creeping like a snail suitable in the context?

 Ans: a. The satchel belongs to the schoolboy.

 b. The figure of speech used is a simile; he is compared to a snail.

 c. It helps to show how slowly he may be walking because he does not like to go to school.

He is presented as a reluctant school-going child.

2. Last scene of all,

 That ends this strange eventful history

 a. What figure of speech would scene be?

 b. What does this strange eventful history refer to?

 c. What is the last scene?

 Ans: a. It is a metaphor.

 b. It refers to the life of a person.

 c. It is the last phase of life compared to the final scene in a play