All The World's A Stage

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), one of the world’s most loved dramatists and poets, authored 37 plays that have left an eternal mark. One of his most famous works is a poetic piece ‘All the World’s A Stage’ taken from his play ‘As You Like It’. The piece reflects upon the great truth that all of us human beings are just actors playing different roles in the drama of life on the stage of the world. We come, play our parts, and leave. Further, the poem makes us realise fundamental facts about the various stages (ages) of life and their universal characteristic features: helpless infant, naughty school student, passionate young lover, professional achievements of youth, power and maturity of middle age, wisdom and delicate health of old age, and finally the utter helplessness and childishness of advanced old age. Each stage in life has its value, its pros and its cons; it should be accepted gracefully and enjoyed and well-utilised, for life is brief; and we need to care for each other at each stage in our lives.

All The World’s A Stage

William Shakespeare

 All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

(From ‘As You Like It’ – spoken by Jacques)