All the World's a Stage (Poem)

Chapter Overview

"All the World's a Stage" is an iconic philosophical monologue spoken by the melancholy nobleman Jaques in Act II, Scene VII of William Shakespeare's pastoral comedy, As You Like It. The poem develops an extended theatrical conceit comparing the entire cosmos to a theater, wherein all men and women are mere players who have their designated entrances and exits, each performing seven distinct dramatic roles across their mortal lifetime.

The journey of human life is partitioned into seven sequential ages: first, the crying infant mewling and puking in the nurse's arms; second, the complaining schoolboy creeping reluctantly like a snail to school with shining morning face; third, the sighing lover composing melancholic ballads to his beloved's eyebrow; fourth, the ambitious soldier, bearded like the leopard and reckless in speech, chasing hollow "bubble reputation" even into the mouth of lethal cannons; and fifth, the prosperous justice with round belly, severe eyes, and formal beard, delivering wise saws and legal maxims.

In the final two stages, physical decay and mental decline set in. The sixth age presents the lean and slippered "pantaloon" wearing spectacles and shrunken hose, his once powerful voice turning into a high-pitched childish treble. Finally, the tragic seventh stage arrives: second childishness and mere oblivion, stripping man of all faculties - "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." Shakespeare captures Human Existence and Life's Stages with profound psychological truth, reminding intermediate students of the transience of worldly ambition.