All the World’s Stage

Shakespeare's text gives the sense that human life is not real. What we see and hear is not reality. Human life is a fantastical theater. Here, Shakespeare recounts human life through the renowned seven ages: the infant in arms, the schoolboy, the lover, the soldier, the justice, the retired man, and the worn-out senior, sliding back into dissolution. The whole world is a stage. We are merely actors. We enter the stage and then exit it again. Throughout his life, one man takes on several different roles. At first, he plays the role of an infant, screaming and putting milk into the nurse's arms.

Then he plays a schoolboy who is unwilling to attend school. He trudges at the snail's pace, his face glowing in the morning light. Then comes the lover. He sighs like a furnace and writes terrible verses to his lover. He performs the character of a soldier. It's filled with all the violent oaths. He has a great beard. In a fight, he is very sensitive, rapid, and impatient. He is willing to give his life for the sake of insignificant glory. Then he will assume the job of judge. He has a big tummy and terrible eyes. He's an extremely wise dude.

Then Shakespeare discusses his old age. It's quite funny. The ancient man is dressed in slippers and glasses. His mannish voice reverts to a childish shrill tone. The last role is that of the second child. It is so full of forgetting. It lacks teeth, sight, taste, and all other senses.

Some Important Question

1. Explain the following lines briefly concerning the context.

They have their exits and their entrances;
One man in his time plays many parts,

ans: The following lines are from William Shakespeare's poem 'All the World's a Stage. These lines express similarities between the roles the performers play on stage and the people in their lives.

The poet has stated that people enter this worldly stage through birth and exit through death. We are assigned different roles to play, just like performers in a drama. When we have accomplished our roles, we leave this stage of our lives. The poet wants us to understand that human life is similar to a stage in a theatre. A guy is fated to play multiple roles during his life.

2. What is the theme of this poem?

ans: Shakespeare's 'All the World's a Stage' explores the futility of humanity's place in the world. He investigates issues such as time, age, memory, and the meaning of life. He connects the ideas by using the monologue's core concept, which is that everyone is essentially a player in a greater game over which they have no influence. Shakespeare guides the reader through the stages of life, beginning with infancy and childhood and concluding with an elderly man who has been a lover, soldier, and judge. The "man" dies after reverting to a state similar to childhood and infancy.

3. 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: The poem is composed in blank verse, using conventional metrical but unrhymed lines. The poem is written in a narrative style. In this poem, he expresses his deepest feelings on how he believes the world is a theater and that all of the people who live in it are merely actors or roles. These characters go through seven different stages throughout their life. He has presented the true characteristics of human life so that all readers can grasp the realities of life.