Excerpt from "All the World's a Stage"

by William Shakespeare

In this poem, stage is what type of symbol?

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 stages.

I

Like several other phrases, this phrase was coined by William Shakespeare. Jacques has spoken this famous phrase in Act-II, Scene-VII of the play As You Like It. He says, "All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players." The meaning of this phrase is that this world is like a stage show, and all human beings are merely actors. In fact, this speech is a continuance of the idea given by Orlando earlier in the play.

Meaning of All the World's a Stage

Shakespeare draws readers' attention toward the drama everyone lives throughout their lives. He is really reducing the life of human beings to a performance, or an acting role, which might look ridiculous. Simply, he means that all human beings are players, who play their assigned roles in every day. For instance, if somebody is a soldier now, he is playing the role Lord has allotted to him. Same is the case with other professionals. Even several roles are common such, as the role of a young lover, a haughty middle-aged man, or a great golfer.

By the use of the label "stage", Shakespeare through the character of Jacques, implies that it is symbolic of men being mere actors in the world stage.

Explanation:

Jacques produced this famous speech about the various stages of a man's life through the poem "All The World's A Stage". By the use of the 'stage', he implies that the life of man is like a play performed on the world stage for everyone to see. The dramas of our lives that everyone plays during our existence in this world is a performance with everyone of us becoming actors in our own lives. We all are mere players in this world, performing our respective roles in our everyday lives.