Essay on Shakespeare's "all the World's a Stage"

Shakespeare: On Beginnings, Middles, and Ends

        Shakespeare’s “All the World’s a Stage” attempts to provide a map to the human experience: charting the path it feels all men follow from birth to demise through analogy to stage productions and theatre. This analogy serves to provide a relatable context for the ideas being presented to the audience, which reflect disdain for the foolishness of youth and a fear of aging, while glorifying the chronological center of one’s life as the center of meaning as well.

        One begins the story of life, as all do, with infancy. Shakespeare is brief with this description but spares no effort in expressing the repulsive realism of parenthood. Graphic language, “Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms…”, provide a clear mental image of the discomforts life holds for both the newly initiated and those responsible for them. This helplessness and reliance upon a caregiver define the essence of childhood, during which responsibility for one’s self is placed on those more experienced and capable.

         Lack of responsibility is also seen in “the whining school boy…”, complaining readily about that which enables their growth. Shakespeare’s use of language in the simile, “creeping like snail…” evoke a nasty yet natural impression of his subject, while reiterating their unwillingness (i.e. inability) to properly facilitate their own well-being and placing this task on the other.

        The previous description of a “shining morning face” is then contrasted with the melancholic notes of a “woeful ballad”, which indicate that the man is becoming an altogether less-than-pleasant being known as the lover. The natural imagery of the schoolboy is lost once he matures into this character, replaced by artificiality, “sighing like furnace”, which demonstrates an

expectation of accountability not known to the man until now as he has become a creature of his own design. Despite this he is still firmly rooted in a sense of externality as his being is occupied not by his own self but rather by his mistress, a theme continued in his next role.

        The soldier, by nature, is a figure lacking introspection and personal accountability. He serves as a tool for his lord to further their means and this concept is further seen as unnatural and alien by Shakespeare’s description: “full of strange oaths”. However, the use of ‘full’ does seem to imply that the man has begun to grasp the concept of internalization (even if it is still on behalf of another’s whims) which contrasts the lover’s expelling of themselves “to their mistress’ eyebrow”. The soldier is still nevertheless portrayed as contemptible due to their rashness, exemplified as “Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth.” Such recklessness and superficiality can only be a detriment to oneself.

        Through their experiences and mistakes, the man becomes the venerable justice. Here one sees a dramatic shift in the tone of Shakespeare’s descriptions, lacking any negative connotations. This shift is significant in interpreting this stage as the climax of life’s narrative, going so far as to literally use the words “fair” and “good” in its description. Once again the term ‘full’ is used, yet now the man is stuffed with “wise saws and modern instances”, a much more flattering perception. Internality is also illustrated by description of his “round belly, with good capon lin’d”.