Summary of Shakespeare's "All The World’s A Stage"

 

Introduction

William Shakespeare is the most famous English writer.  He has written many dramas, sonnets, and a few long poems.  He is the most translated English dramatist.  He is popular even today for his variety and characters.  “All The World’s A Stage” is an excerpt from Shakespeare’s famous play, “As You Like It”.  This poem is a monologue spoken by a character named melancholic Jacques.

 

Life is a drama

Shakespeare, as a dramatist, compares life with a stage.  He extends this metaphor throughout the poem.  Shakespeare compares the world with a stage.  All men and women are actors in the play.  Every human being has their entry and exit.  Every stage has an entrance and exit; similarly, our lives have birth as an entry and death as an exit.  Every person plays different roles in their short period of life.  According to Shakespeare, everyone plays seven different stages or roles in our lifetime.

 First Stage

The first stage is our infancy.  In this stage, we cry in the nurse’s arms.  We mewl like a kitten.  We vomit the milk that we drink.  We are totally dependent on others.

 Second Stage

In the second stage, we become a schoolboy.  The school boy’s face shines in the morning.  He carries a huge school bag like a snail.  He goes to school without willingness.

 Third Stage

In the third stage, we play the part of a lover.  Men fall in love with women.  They glow like a burning furnace.  They spend most of their time writing poems.  Most of the poems are about the eyebrows of their lady love. 

 Fourth Stage

This is the next stage of our life.  We play the role of a soldier.  In this stage, a man takes strange oaths.  He has a beard like a leopard.  He is jealous of honor.  He is quick in quarreling with people.  He stands bold and proud even before a canon.  He looks for a quick reputation and fame.

 Fifth Stage

            We become mature in this stage, after experiencing half of our life.  We must have read many books and try to prove ourselves as a judge.  We have a formal beard and a round belly at this stage.  We try to speak wisely.

 Sixth Stage

In this stage, a man steps into his old age.  He becomes lean and his clothes become loose.  He wears slippers and pantaloons.  He becomes physically weak.  He wears spectacles on his nose.  He has a purse in his side to hold coins and money.  His loud voice becomes shrill and feeble.  His speech is like whistling.

 Seventh Stage

This is the last stage of human life.  Shakespeare calls life a ‘strange eventful history.  In this last stage, we become very weak.  Shakespeare calls our last stage a second childishness.  We lose our memory, teeth, eyesight, taste, and our life and breath. 

 Conclusion

            Shakespeare proves himself as a genius through this short monologue.  He is able to explain the philosophy of life and life cycle in a very simple way.  He has compared life with drama, which is his profession.