All the World's a Stage|| William Shakespeare || Compulsory English Grade 11

 

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

 

 

About the Poet:

William Shakespeare is one of the greatest dramatists in English Literature. He was born in Stratford-upon Avon, Warwickshire in 1564 and died in 1616. He is an actor, dramatis and poet who married to Anne Hathway in 1582. He is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of the Renaissance era. He has written 38 plays and 154 sonnets. He is also known as the “Bard of Avon” or “National Poet of England”. He has written comedies, Romances, satires and Tragedies. His most famous works include:

v A Mid Summer Night’s Dream

v As You Like It

v Hamlet,

v Othello

v King Lear

v Romeo and Juliet

v Macbeth etc.

 

About the Poem:

This poem is taken from William Shakespeare’s Play “As You Like It”. In Act II, Scene VII, there is a monologue of Jacques, in which this poem appears. This poem is full of literary devices such as metaphor, simile and refrain. In this poem the poet compares this world with a stage and humans are compared with the actors. As actor plays different roles on the stage, humans play the drama of life in this world. As a minute observer of humankind, Shakespeare divides human life into seven stage- infant, school age boy, young lover, soldier/fighter, justice, Pantaloon, and old age. 

 

Exercises

Understanding the Text

Answer the following questions.

 

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

Ans:- In the poem “All the World’s a Stage”, by William Shakespeare compares this human world with a stage where plays are enacted because humans are merely players who play the drama of life as the characters play different roles on the stage.

 

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 the human’s life begins when s/he gets from its mother’s womb and ends becoming a school boy. This stage, as Shakespeare calls, is the infant. This stage is troublesome, because the infant can’t express and speak any thing just mewling and puking which trouble the nurse or the mother.

 

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

Ans:- After the end of infancy, there comes the second stage in human’s life. In this stage of school going age, he has to go to school carrying his satchel unwillingly. This is the stage of complaining on different things so the poet calls this stage the whining school boy. And his unwillingness to go to school is compared with a snail’s creep.

 

d. Why is the last stage called second childhood?

Ans:- The last stage of human is called the second childhood in a sense it is the end of strange eventful history. The man turns to be forgetfulness, loses his teeth, eyesight, everything in this stage. 

 

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

Ans:- On the stage, character plays the roles given to them by the director. They have act out what they are told. In the same way we have to play the drama of our life divided into seven stages. The ultimate designer of our role is the God and we can’t do anything beyond the scripted roles told to be enacted on this world stage by the god.

 

 

Reference to the Context

a. Explain the following lines:

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players.

 

The above given lines are the first two lines from the poem “All the World’s a Stage” written by the famous dramatist William Shakespeare. This poem appears in act II, Scene VII, in the masterpiece of Shakespeare “As You Like It”. It is a monologue of the character Melancholy Jacque. In these lines, this human world is compared with a stage and people are compared with the characters that perform their roles on the stage. As there are different characters in a play, there are different people. Some characters are bad and some are good. In the same way some people are bad and some are good. They are merely players who come in this world to play their destined roles, finish their roles and leave this stage.

 

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

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts

 

The lines above are taken from a worldwide famous poem “All the World’s a Stage” written by William Shakespeare. As a keen observer of humankind, Shakespeare minutely observes the roles of humans. As a master of dramas, he compares this world with a stage and people with characters. Each and every activity of humans is compared with the characters that perform on the stage. Their birth is compared with the entrance of a character on the stage and death is compared with the exit of a character from the stage.

 

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 poet refers to the school going age of a human’s life.

 

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

Ans:- The poet uses simile in the second line where the school boy’s walk is compared with the creeping of a snail using the term ‘like’. The boy hesitantly walks to his school.

 

 

 

iii. Who is compared to the snail?

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

 

iv. Does the boy go to the school willingly?

Ans:- No, the boy doesn’t got to the school willingly.

 

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

Ans:- In English literature there are many poetic devices which are used to adore poems beautifully. Among them, they are metaphor and simile that are used to make comparison between two distinct ideas with common qualities. The only differences between them is, metaphor does not use the words “like” or “as” for comparison where as simile does. The comparisons with similes are limited, where as metaphors do broad comparisons. The poem is rich in used of metaphor are simile. The similes are, “creeping like snail”, “sighing like furnace”, “bearded like the pard” and metaphors are “all the world’s a stage”, “all the men and women merely players”, and “bubble reputation” etc.

 

In “creeping like snail”, the boys walk is compared with creeping of a snail which mean unwilling walk. “Sighing like furnace” means the boy is expressing pain in love of his beloved. “Bearded like pad” means newly grownup wild beard like of a leopard. “All the world’s a stage” means comparison this human world with a stage. “All the men and women merely players” means comparison of all men and women with the characters in a play. And “bubble reputation” mean the reputation is compared with foam of water which is temporary.

 

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?

Ans:- "Style" in poetry refers to all the choices that are made to create the poem's meaning. Style can include technical choices, such as using short or long lines, varying or omitting punctuation, or using a set rhythm or rhyme scheme. Style can also include poetic choices such as diction, form, and subject matter. All these things contribute to a reader's overall experience reading a poem, and they make up its style. Specifically, it is a monologue that can be found in Act II Scene VII written in a narrative style. The monologue is twenty-eight lines long and is in part written in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter. This means that the lines do not rhyme, but they do (at some points) contain five sets of two beats, the first of which is unstressed and the second of which is stressed.

 

f. What is the theme of this poem?

Ans:- In the poem “All the World’s a Stage” the poet compares this human world to a stage where drama of human life is enacted. Humans are nothing more than the actors of a drama. Whatever they do throughout the seven stages of their life is just role playing. We act according to our stages, ultimately losing the game of life. 

 

 

Reference beyond the text

a. Describe the various stages of a human life pictured in the poem “All the World’s a Stage”.

In the poem All the World’s a Stage' is that the world's a stage and men and women are the actors performing. They enter many stages of life before death. The poem describes the seven stages in a man's life from birth to death. At first the poem describes the man as a baby who is being taken a lot of care. Then he becomes a school boy who goes to school unwillingly. Then he becomes a lover who spends his time writing for his love. Then he becomes more mature and joins the army, becomes a soldier. With time his age increases and he becomes a judge, a wise and respected well established man. With time the man grows old, becomes the pantaloon. His manly voice weakens, turns into a childlike vulnerability and foolishness. He then needs a lot of care and becomes too helpless, weak. His senses become useless.  At last he enters his seventh and final stage of life, turns into a corpse. The poem describes all the seven stages and the helplessness after birth and before death

 

b. Is Shakespeare’s comparison of human’s life with a drama stage apt? How?

Ans:- As a master of dramas, William Shakespeare sees comparison between human life and a drama. The dramas are written to be performed on the stages. There are acts and scenes where characters appear playing different roles. There is timing of the entrance and exit of the characters from the stage. They are identified through their dialogues and actions.  The activities of humans on this world are compared with the activities of the characters in the stage. As the characters enter into stage, play their roles and exit the stage, we enter this world by birth, we act differently in different stages, and we exit from this world at the time of our death. Shakespeare says that every man has seven stages during his lifetime. His opinion related to life is quite right. Players or people come into this worldly stage and perform their seven different roles and finally part away from this stage. That’s why; I think this comparison of human’s life with a drama stage by William Shakespeare is apt.

 

Thank you !