"All The World's a Stage"

One of my favorite passages from As You Like It so far has been in 2.7. It is the scene in which Jaques' famous speech "All the world's a stage" takes place. However, before this famous speech, Duke Senior has some, what I believe to be, pretty significant lines. Duke Senior states:

Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy.
This wide and universal theatre
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in. (2.7.135-138)

Duke Senior's speech is meant to lift Orlando's spirits. Orlando has come to Duke Senior looking for food for Adam. In this context, Duke Senior is trying to help Orlando to see that they are not alone; there are others who are unhappy and starving. There are more who are miserable like them.

While I am not sure whether Duke Senior's words actually comfort Orlando, the reference to them being actors in a scene causes Jaques to give his speech. Jacques' speech, a continuation of the idea that they are actors, begins with a very famous line:

..................................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. (2.7.138-142)

What I find most interesting is the metaphor of life being a play/theatrical production. Jaques' speech might also be meant to comfort Orlando. He says that all men and women "have their exits and their entrances" (2.7.140), meaning that we all have to die at some time. In other words, no one lives forever. Perhaps this statement is meant to appease Orlando-that even in hard times of starving, the worst that could happen is death, and all of us will die at some day. Jaques goes on to state that "one man in his time plays many parts" (2.7.141), which has a different meaning if taken out of context. In the context of the speech, Jacques is dividing the life span into seven sections-or roles that a person plays within his life. These roles are apparently controlled by time. If taken out of context, this phrase could mean that a man can be many things in life; he will have many different jobs. It could also mean (out of context again) that men have may different faces or personalities, and they can put these on like masks, which would echo the theme of men and women being actors.

What I find particularly curious about these lines is that they draw attention to the fact that the characters in play are drawing attention to the fact that they are characters. By saying that "all men and women [are] merely players" (2.7.138), Jaques highlights the fact that he is indeed a character being played by an actor. In class we have discussed that Shakespeare tried to highlight the differences between the lives of the characters and reality. I believe that Jaques' speech, while very poetic and fitting for the scene, allows for the audience to distinguish between their lives and the play itself. Does this speech have other functions? Perhaps. But regardless of the role it plays within the play and for the audience, I believe it is a beautifully written speech.