All the World’s a Stage

Answer these questions:

1. The title compares the world and the life of man to a play enacted on stage.
The people of the world are like actors who play roles; their births and
deaths are compared to the entrances and exits of the characters on and off
the stage. Every age that a man passes through is compared to an act in the
play.

2. The schoolboy whines and creeps like a snail because he does not want to go
to school. His face, nevertheless, shines, showing he is healthy.

3. The speaker gently mocks the lover for his longing and intense emotional
songs for something as trivial as his mistress’ eyebrow. The mocking is
evident in the words “sighing like a furnace”.

4. The soldier, the speaker says, is full of ‘strange oaths’ and ‘quick to quarrel’.
The speaker seems to be puzzled and amused by this, as it seems quite
pointless.

5. The judge’s round belly indicates that he is prosperous. His formal

appearance shows that he is dignified. The stern eyes and wise sayings tell
us that he is a man of few words, serious and thoughtful.

6. When the speaker talks about old age, he shows sympathy for man’s lost
faculties of hearing, seeing and speaking and the loss of his dignity through
his return to a childlike state. The last two lines show deep sympathy and
compassion.