The poem All the World’s a Stage is an excerpt from As You Like It by Shakespeare. In the poem, Jacques the speaker observes the world as a temporary stage where mankind plays a particular role in seven different stages of life. The poem has various meanings and describes the harsh reality of man’s existence in various stages. The world is depicted as a stage where human beings play their role just like characters play their role on stage. The essay seeks to expound on the plot, theme, imagery, and the point of view of the poem.
The opening sentences that the world is a stage introduces the plot. Unlike the changes that characters go through during a performance, men and women on earth are pictured as being on a theatre stage appearing for a short while and then existing to make way for a new production. The first stage is that of an infant described as being helpless on his mother’s arms. He merely pukes on his mother’s arms. The second stage starts when he turns into a school going, boy. His face shines like the bright and fresh morning. He is portrayed as unwilling to go to school and reluctant to take responsibilities. In the third stage, the man is a grown-up person and has assumed the form of a lover ( Sider, 1996). He loves his beloved enthusiastically and sighs like a furnace or an oven denoting the feelings of passionate love. The man in the fourth stage is mature and has taken the role of a soldier. He is described as fierce, jealous of honor of others, quick-tempered and quarrelsome. To achieve temporary fame, he is ready to succumb to gunfire, and he is not bothered by dangers. The fifth stage is defined by a man mature as a judge and has a fair round belly. He is grim, serious and firm. In the sixth stage is of old age that weakens him. Man becomes lean, has weakened eyesight and is as feeble as a child. His memory is weak. In the last stage, he has lost everything and man is in the extreme old age. The plot is that of a man going through life and finally existing.
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The theme can also be picked alongside the plot. The theme of the poet is that life passes by before you can pause on it by slowly shifting to another stage. There are 28 lines about the stages in a man’s life. Life is short just like a play and out of realms of man’s action. Throughout the poem, the author describes the life of a man on earth. Though the stages are quick, man has many years and can thus accomplish or fail many times at his actions. The author insists on hard work in life as it will repay itself. As the old man at the end of the poem thinks of his “eventful history” and is honored of his life ( Sider, 1996).
The poem has also utilized imagery to convey its meaning. The imagery is evident in the lines “with eyes severe and beard of formal cut.” ( Sider, 1996). The line is descriptive of the harsh character and middle age reflected in the eyes of the man as he grows older and gains more knowledge. Beard of formal cut relates to the relaxed appearance of serious middle-aged men who are adopting a formal presentation in their professions of choice to earn a livelihood. The imagery is also evident in the lines “slipper’d pantaloon” and “with spectacle on nose and pouch on the side.” ( Sider, 1996). This is clothing imagery and depicts him approaching old age. He requires spectacles to see and has his money in a bag as his ability to earns fades. His legs are skinny and he no loners shows them off but wears loose pants to cover them. Body imagery has appeared in the description of the belly, and mouth. “A fair round belly” depicts a man who is comfortable and not hungry ( Sider, 1996). Imagery has clearly demonstrated the physical outlook of the man in the stages.
The point of view in this speech is undoubtedly that of an isolated philosopher, but the central point is that it is of a cynic, a position in line with Jacques other statements. We are “merely players” on a stage, the infant is not innocent but “mewling and puking” develops into maturity only to return to the infancy ( Sider, 1996). Though old age is characterized by loss of physical faculties, the description of the last age as a “mere oblivion” has important philosophical and religious overtones ( Sider, 1996). The point of view from the actors is that the poem describes the ignorance of minor roles where actors come in play and exit. That is, we only play the role assigned to us by the society, being born, going to school, getting into a career, retiring and then getting old after that. In conclusion, it is up to the main character to know the entire play. Similarly, people ought to get ready and understand their role in the world and life as a whole.
In conclusion, the paper has looked at the plot, the theme, imagery, and point of views of the poem. The plot has illustrated the seven stages of life as described in the poem. The point of view in this speech is that of an isolated philosopher, but the central point is that it is of a cynic. Moreover, the imagery techniques have been drawn from sentences and words in the line.
Reference
Sider, T. (1996). All the world's a stage. Australasian Journal of Philosophy , 74 (3), 433-453. Retrieved from https://aap.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00048409612347421?journalCode=rajp20#.XIgYrjpRXIU
