10/22/2025
The world 🌏 is a stage 🎤
" is the opening line of a famous monologue by the character Jaques in William Shakespeare's play As You Like It. The phrase compares the world to a theater and human life to a play, where each person has their own "exits and entrances" and plays many parts or "acts" throughout their life, which are described as seven ages of man.
Metaphorical meaning: The quote suggests that life is a performance and all people are actors who play different roles. The world is the stage, and each person has their own "entrance" (birth) and "exit" (death).
The seven ages of man: The monologue goes on to describe seven distinct stages or "ages" a person goes through in their life:
Infant
Schoolboy
Lover
Soldier
Justice
Pantaloon (an old man)
Second childhood, "mere oblivion"
Context and interpretation:
The speech is a way to view life as a journey with different acts and roles, from the dependence of infancy to the final state of old age. While some interpretations see this as a cynical view of life as a performance, it's spoken by a melancholy character, and its meaning is multi-layered, sometimes viewed as a reflection on the temporary and cyclical nature of life.
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