‘All The World’s A Stage’: Quote & Meaning

‘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.’

‘All the world’s a stage’ monologue, spoken by Jaques, Act 2 Scene 7

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,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

(act ii, scene vii)

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.

“All The World’s A Stage” As An Idiom

The idiom “all the world’s a stage” is a metaphor that compares life to a play. It is often used to suggest that people are like actors, playing different roles in different situations. The phrase was first used by William Shakespeare in his play As You Like It, in which the character Jaques says:

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,

His acts being seven ages.

In this passage, Jaques is describing the seven stages of life, from infancy to old age. He suggests that each stage is like a different role that we play, like actors on a stage, and that we all eventually exit the stage of life.

The idiom “all the world’s a stage” has been interpreted in many different ways. Some people see it as a pessimistic view of life, suggesting that we are all trapped in a meaningless cycle of roles. Others see it as a more optimistic view, suggesting that we have the power to choose our own roles and make our own meaning in life.

The Meaning Of The Idiom

The idiom “all the world’s a stage” has a few different meanings. On one level, it simply means that life is full of different roles that we play. We are all students, workers, parents, friends, and so on. Each of these roles has its own set of expectations and responsibilities.

On a deeper level, the idiom suggests that our lives are like a play. We are all actors, performing for an audience of other people. We may not always be aware of it, but we are constantly putting on a show. We dress a certain way, speak a certain way, and behave a certain way in order to create a certain impression.

The idiom also suggests that our lives are not always what they seem. Just like in a play, there may be hidden motivations and secrets behind our actions. We may not always be the person we seem to be.

The Idiom In Popular Culture

The idiom “all the world’s a stage” has been used in many different contexts in popular culture. It has been used in movies, TV shows, songs, and books.

For example, the idiom is used in the title of the 1952 movie All About Eve. The movie is about a young actress who is willing to do anything to become successful. She sees the world as a stage, and she is determined to be the star of the show.

The idiom is also used in the song “All the World’s a Stage” by The Who. The song is about the absurdity of life. The singer says that life is like a play, and that we are all just actors playing our roles.

The idiom “all the world’s a stage” is a reminder that life is a performance. We all have a role to play, and it is up to us to decide how we want to play it. We can choose to be the star of the show, or we can choose to be a supporting player. We can choose to be happy or we can choose to be sad. The choice is ours. And we can perform different roles in different scenes in our life play.

The idiom is a reminder that we have the power to create our own meaning in life. We are not simply actors playing roles that have been assigned to us. We are the authors of our own stories. We can choose how we want to live our lives, and we can choose to make a difference in the world.

Now you read the context around Shakespeare’s ‘All the world’s a stage’ monologue try one more read-through to see if you can pick up anything you missed the first time around:

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,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

See other William Shakespeare quotes

See other William Shakespeare monologues

Read As You Like It in modern English