Reading

All the World’s a Stage

Understanding the Text

Answer the following questions.

a. Why does the poet compare the world with a stage?
Ans: The poet compares the world with a stage because he believed that all men and women behave like the actors.

b. What is the first stage in a human’s life? In what sense can it be a troubling stage?
Ans: Yes, I think that the whole world is a stage. Here, we come through the birth and perform our different roles in different stages and finally depart through the death.

c. Describe the second stage of life based on the poem.
Ans: School-going boy is in the second phase of life. He’s always whining and griping. His looks are as fresh as a new day when you see them. He drags his backpack and makes his way to school like a snail with reluctance.

d. Why is the last stage called second childhood?
Ans: The last stage is called second childhood because here in this stage the man loses his senses of sight, hearing, smell and taste. He acts like a child and finally exits from the roles of his life. 

e. In what sense are we the player on the world stage?
Ans: We are the players in the world stage as we appear on the world stage when we get birth and leave it when we die like the actors do on the stage in a theater.

Reference to the Context

a. Explain the following lines: All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players
Ans: Here, in these lines, the poet has compared the whole world with a stage where a men and women are only actors. After birth, they perform their many roles here in this worldly stage and finally leave this stage moving towards their final death,

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

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts

Ans: These lines are similar to the roles performed on stage by actors and individuals in their daily lives. We all have various roles to perform much like the characters in a play. A person’s life is divided into seven stages, each with its own set of traits. In a play, each actor enters the stage, does his or her role, and then exits. We depart the stage of our life after we complete our roles. Similarly, we enter the world stage when we are born and exit it when we die. Throughout his life, a man is bound to perform a variety of roles. The poet wants us to realise that life is like a stage for a play.

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 second stage of life is being referred by the poet.

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

iii. Who is compared to the snail?
Ans: A school boy is compared to the snail.

iv. Does the boy go to the school willingly?
Ans: No, he doesn’t go to the school willingly.

d. Simile and metaphor are the two major poetic devices used in this poem. Explain citing examples of each.
Ans: Here, in this poem, we find major poetic devices as simile and metaphor. The poet has used these poetic devices a lot. The examples of simile and metaphor of this poem are as follows:

1. 1. “All the world’s stage” = Metaphor
   2. “And all the men and women merely players” = Simile
   3. ‘And shining morning face, creeping like a snail” = Simile
   4. “Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard” = Simile
   5. “Seeking the bubble reputation” = Metaphor
   6. “His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide” = Metaphor
   7. “and his big manly voice, turning again toward childish treble” = Metaphor

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: The poem is written in blank verse with regular metrical but unrhymed lines. The style of the poem is narrative. The narrator reocounts the story of life. He compares human life to a stage and all the people actors. One man in his time plays several roles. In a drama every actors enters the stage, acts his role and then exits. In a similar way, in real life, entrances ans exits refer to births and deaths. People appear on the stage when they get birth, play their respective roles and leave the stage when they die. A person in his entire life has to complete seven stages.

f. What is the theme of this poem?
Ans: The theme of this poem is that person is the ultimate loser in the game of life. A person makes an entry into this worldly stage and performs different roles in his lifetime. Finally, he/she leaves this worldly stage struggling in different circumstances. He/She comes empty-handed here and leaves this stage empty-handed. He/She brings nothing and takes nothing.

Reference beyond the text

a. Describe the various stages of a human’s life picturised in the poem “All the World’s a Stage”.
Ans: The seven phases of human development are described by Shakespeare. The world is like a theatre, and the people who inhabit it play the roles of various parts. The first stage begins as a helpless infant and ends up as a school-bound adolescent. After that, the young adolescent grows up as a passionate loveer and then becomes a devoted soldier with boundless vigour. The judge in good clothing represents the fifth level, which is an intelligent and mature stage. Then comes retirement, when one’s eyes become droopy and the voice becomes shaky. Finally, one’s senses, memories, strength everything begin to deteriorate, until they eventually die. These are the seven stages of human life as described by the poet.

b. Is Shakespeare’s comparison of human’s life with a drama stage apt? How?
Ans: Yes, Shakespeare’s comparison of human’s life with a drama stage apt. He compares the whole world with a stage where men and women are only actors. In a drama, every player enters the stage, acts his/her part and then exits. In the same way, we enter this world by birth. We lead our life in different characters. We exits 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 into this worldly stage and perform their seven different roles and finally part away from this stage. Our life is divided into seven different stages and in these stages, we keep on performing different roles seeking various things in our life as actors. Here in this worldly stage, we play the role of an infant, a boy, a lover, a soldier, a judge, an old man and an extremely old man.