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Summary Through Jacques, Shakespeare puts forth the view that the world is a stage in which human beings play their part. There are seven Acts like seven stages in a man’s life. A Person performs multifarious roles in a single life-time. In the beginning, he is a baby crying in the arms of the nurse. Infancy is followed by school-going stage, when he is bright-eyed, trudging unwillingly to school. In the third stage, he grows into a lover, writing poems in praise of his beloved and sighing like a furnace. Then he plays the role of a soldier, who is rash, and who willingly sacrifices his life for honour. In the next role he is a Judge, well-fed, prosperous, fat and fierce-eyed. He is always in a mood of impressing others and is full of wise maxims. The next stage depicts man to be weak, thin, wearing spectacles and slippers. His clothes are loose and legs are thin and his voice is shrill like that of a child. At the end comes the last stage when he loses his memory, teeth, eyes, taste, infact everything. It is like a second childhood As he has to depend on others for everything. Thus ends the drama of his eventful life.
- On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice
(a) All the world’s a stage is an extended metaphor for________. Ans : (iv) life of man that comes to an end.
(b) All ‘have their exits and their entrances’. Exits and entrances refer to __________. Ans : (i) death and birth
(c) The seven roles that a man plays correspond to his __________. Ans : (i) chronological age in life
- Having read this extract, identify the stages of a person’s life as Shakespeare has done. Write down these stages in your note book, and sum up the characteristics of each stage in two or three words. e.g.
STAGE Characteristic feature
infancy
crying
- Explain the meaning of the following.
(a) ... all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances...
Ans : All men and women appear on the stage of the world to play various roles. They are just stage artists. Their birth marks their appearance on the stage and death denotes their departure.
(b) And then the lover, sighing like furnace...
Ans : In the third stage, man becomes romantic and sentimental. He falls for some girl. The distance from her makes him sad and he writes love poems. He draws deep breath like the bellow of the blacksmith.
Stage Characteristic feature
● Infancy crying
● School-going fresh clean face, carrying a boy
clean face, carrying a bag; but walks slowly like a snail because of his unwillingness to go to school
● Lover sentimental, unhappy, poetic, tense ● Solider quarrelsome, short tempered, foolishly looking for glory and fame in the jaws of death
● Justice fat, corrupt, accepts gifts of chickens, quotes popular sayings and modern examples
● Old age getting weak and lean due to failing health, loss of manly voice
● Extreme old age second childhood, weakening of all senses and faculties of hearing, seeing, taste, etc.
(b) ‘Shrunk shank’ means
(ii) Thin legs
(c) Why does his voice again become childish?
(iv) His old age weakens his voice
- Last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
(a) Why is this last stage call led, ‘second childishness’?
(ii) Is without teeth, taste like a child
(b) ‘Mere oblivion’ means:
(iii) Forgetfulness
(c) Why is man’s life called ‘strange eventful history’?
(iii) Due to strange happenings
- In fair round belly with capon lined With eye severe and beard of formal cut Full of wise saws and modern stances And so he plays his part.
(a) Which stage of man is the poet referring to in the above lines?
(iii) Middle age
(b) The round belly is suggestive of :
(iv) A person of importance
(c) By ‘wise saws’ the poet means:
(i) Words of wisdom
1. What is the theme of the poem ‘The Seven Ages’?
Ans. According to Shakespeare human life is transitory. There is nothing
permanent in it. This poem is based on a speech given by a character Jacques
who is a cynic in the well-known play ‘As You like It. For Jacques there is
nothing noble or praiseworthy in a man’s life. He makes fun of all the seven
ages of man and calls birth as ‘entry’ and death as ‘exit’.
2. Why does the poet say that the school boy creeps like a snail to school?
Ans. The school boy is not very willing to go to school. He is disinterested and
just walks slowly like a snail carrying his school bag. He is always whining and
Complaining.
- Describe the fourth and fifth stages of man.
Ans. The fourth stage is of a soldier. He is fierce like a leopard full of vigour and can easily be provoked. He is jealous and always defensive to save his honour. In the fifth stage he is fat and huge. There is sombreness in his eyes and his beard gives him a formal look. He is always full of advice for others and performs the role of a justice.
4. 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.
(a) Why does the poet call the world a ‘stage’? (b) What does the poet mean by ‘exits’ and ‘entrances’? (c) How can one man play many parts?
Ans. (a) Stage is a platform in a theatre where actors perform their parts. Similarly, life is also a performance in which men and women play different parts. These roles are preordained and are in God's power. (b) The exits are deaths and entrances are births (c) The various parts are the various stages in his life : Childhood, adolescence, youth, middle age and finally death.
- What are the problems faced by a person in ‘Soldier’ stage?
Ans. The fourth stage of a man is of a soldier. He is heroic, seeking reputed ion, willing to face total annihilation. He is fierce like a leopard, full of vigour and is easily provoked. He is jealous and defensive. He risks his life to become immortal
