Class 11 English Lesson 10: All the World's a Stage: Reference beyond the text

 

Reference beyond the text: 

a.      Describe the various stages of a human's life picturized in the poem. All the World's a Stage?

The speaker compares the world to a drama or stage. All men and women are only actors on this world stage. We enter with our birth and exit with our death. Between the entrance and exit, we play seven roles.

The first role is of infancy. It goes in crying, weeping, and depending upon others for every little need. Then, the infant grows into a school-going boy. His guardians send him to school, and he goes there most unwillingly. 

Thirdly, he grows into a romantic youth. He is now full of energy. He falls in love. He tries to woo his beloved by singing songs for her. In the fourth stage, the boy turns into a man. He has several responsibilities, both to his family and his country. He is brave, full of enthusiasm, and seeking a reputation.

By the fifth stage, he is in the role of a wise justice. He is a middle-aged man now. Experiences have made him wise like a judge. He has a large stomach and a clean-cut beard by now.

In the sixth stage, he is an old man. He is lean and thin, with glasses on his nose. His manly voice turns into a childish treble. Seventh is the last act.

It is the 'second childhood'. He becomes very old. His memory becomes weaker. Like in the first stage, he again becomes helpless, depending upon others for his every need. It is now the stage of exit from the drama of life.

b.     Is Shakespeare's comparison of human life with a drama stage apt? How?

Shakespeare has compared human life to a play or drama played by every man and woman. He has described seven stages of life, which are like the seven acts of a play.

The comparison of the world to a stage and people to actors goes before Shakespeare. We find such comparisons made in many philosophical books, too. But, even if nobody had written about it, it is by a simple observation of life around us that we find the same thing happening. Everybody takes birth, grows, and with every growth, man's life changes. He works, fulfils duties and responsibilities according to age, and finally leaves the world.  This simple observation tells us that Shakespeare's comparison of human life with a drama is very apt.

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