‘All the world’s a stage’ is a monologue of “the melancholy Jaques” from Act II Scene VII of the

play As You Like It by William Shakespeare.

The speaker, Jacques, begins “All the world’s a stage” by asserting that life is like a stage on
which “men and women merely” play roles. They play different parts throughout their lives, as
the speaker is now. In the bulk of this monologue, the speaker spends time going through the
seven ages of man. One starts in infancy, moves through childhood, and into the best part of
their life when they’re a lover, soldier, and judge. Later, they lose control of their senses and
eventually can’t take care of themselves.
Shakespeare uses the monologue in As You Like It to compare life to a stage on its most basic
level. His speaker, Jacques, is suggesting that life is a stage, and men and women are players
who take on different roles throughout their lives. The concept comes, in part, from medieval
philosophy. The “seven ages” dates from the 12th century. There was a tapestry of King Henry
V depicting the seven stages of man. For theological reasons, medieval philosophers
constructed groups of seven as in the seven deadly sins. Therefore, it is believed that the
“seven ages” derive from medieval philosophy.
The Seven Ages of Man
The seven stages of life, as described by Jacques in ‘All the world’s a stage’ are:
1. Infancy (lines 5-6): The first stage of man’s life is infantry. In the monologue, readers can
find an image of a baby crying softly and throwing up in the caregiver’s lap.
2. Boyhood (lines 7-9): The image of a school-going boy unwilling to go to school describes
this stage.
3. Adolescence/Teenage (lines 9-11): In this stage, Shakespeare presents an image of a
dejected lover who composes sad songs for his beloved.
4. Youth (lines 11-15): He projects the stage of youth by depicting the life of a soldier. As a
soldier, a person in his youths is unafraid of dire challenges.
5. Middle Age (lines 15-19): The fifth stage deals with middle age and it is described by the
picture of a judge or one who practices law. In this stage of life, one starts to mature
and becomes wiser than before.
6. Old Age (lines 19-25): Just before the final stage, comes old age, turning the manly voice
of youth into the childish trebles and whistling. It makes the body weak and the mind,
dependent upon others.
7. Death (lines 25-28): In the finale of this seven-act-play of life, the strange and eventful
history ends abruptly. It leaves a man with nothing.
Themes
In ‘All the world’s a stage’ Shakespeare discusses the futility of humanity’s place in the world.
He explores themes of time, aging, memory, and the purpose of life. Through the monologue’s
central conceit, that everyone is simply a player in a larger game that they have no control over,
he brings the themes together. Shakespeare takes the reader through the stages of life, starting
with infancy and childhood and ending up with an old man who’s been a lover, a soldier, and a
judge. The “man” dies after reverting back to a state that’s close to childhood and infancy. You
can also explore the themes in other William Shakespeare poems.
This is one of the more famous quotes of the Bard. It is said by Jaques: “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…” in the play As You Like It, Act II, sc. vii.
This as an interesting comparison between actors in their plays, and the rest of us in our lives.
Actors will play different parts in different plays throughout their careers. Sometimes they will
play multiple parts in the same play.
Similarly, we have different roles in our lives. At work or at school, in social situations, or with
family and friends. We might be the lead at school, but a lesser player in the family. You might
be the lead at home, but a lesser player at work.
Then we have the roles of parents to our children, as children to our parents, educators to our
children (or parents, if it’s a tech gadget, right?), and so many others. Even at work, we might
be a helper on one project, and the lead on another. Many parts indeed.
‘All the world’s a stage’ is the opening line from a monologue by a character, Jaques, in William
Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It.
Through Jaques, Shakespeare takes the audience on a journey of the complete lifecycle of a
human being, made particularly vivid by its visual images of the different stages of an
Elizabethan’s life. The famous monologue is also known as ‘The Seven Ages of Man.’
In this ‘all the world’s a stage’ monologue, Shakespeare is seeing life as a drama acted out on a
stage in a theatre. Each phase of life is an act in the drama.
William Shakespeare knew or understood a lot about many things. He knew about the lives of
monarchs and the way they operate – what goes on in their private and public lives; he knew
about low life in the inns and taverns of London, and he knew about the lives of rural folk. He
knew about warfare and diplomacy and he knew much more.
However, he often used his own specific area of expertise – the theatre – as fodder for his
poetry. None of his plays are actually about the theatre, although A Midsummer Night’s Dream
has a play production at its center, and there is the famous play-within-the-play in Hamlet, but
he uses the theatre more as a source for the imagery in the language of his plays – for making
poetry. He does that over and over again. This monologue is probably his most famous poetic
allusion to the theatre because it is a view of the whole of life as a play.
Of course, the monologue is not actually about the theatre. The theatrical reference is just a
way of introducing what Shakespeare really wants to convey, which is an outline of a man’s
journey from birth to the grave. He does that magnificently, from vivid images of a healthy baby
to the very sad descent into oblivion, ‘sans everything’ – of an old man with nothing left of his
life.
The idea of a man’s life being no more than a brief appearance on a stage is something that
fascinated Shakespeare. Macbeth sees his life in that way – you strut about and stress on the
stage but all those passions and, indeed, everything you do in life, is meaningless, as at the end
of that you just disappear. Like an actor anguishing on the stage over the trials of life, with great
passion, and then, after the performance, just going home to resume his normal life.
It’s a religious idea in a way. An actor playing out the human drama is only an actor. At the end
of the show he resumes a different, more permanent, life – an afterlife – and what he has done
on the stage, in other words, in his life, is just an act. Real life lies beyond that.