Literary Criticism: Jaques Viewed the World as a Stage

The poem “All the World is a Stage” is an extract from Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, “As You Like It”. The play includes the adventures of Rosalind and her cousin Celia. They run away to the Forest of Arden, where Rosalind’s father, Duke Senior, has been living in exile. A group of loyal courtiers accompanied the Duke. Rosalind is disguised as a man until the last scene in the play. In the Act II Scene vii of the play, Jaques, one of Duke Senior’s men, philosophizes the human life as seven parts played in a stage. According to him, a man begins by being a baby in the first act of the play and ends as an old man facing death in the last act. Jaques, in the play, is a relatively harmless person, who deceives no one. His poetical reflections are often seductive. He sees the world as a stage wherein men and women are players, and their different ages represent different acts and scenes in the play. His descriptions suggest that the roles are largely beyond the players’ control; that a script for the play has already been written by an exterior force.
During Infancy, that is, in the first age, he is dependent on others and needs to be constantly attended to. It is a time of “mewling” and “puking”.
In Childhood he begins to go to school. He is reluctant to leave the protected environment of his home as he is still not confident enough to exercise his own discretion. He has a shining face. He carries his bag and “creep like a snail unwillingly” to school.
During age III, he is a lover. Like any modern day adolescence, he is always remorseful due to some reason or other, especially the loss of love. He tries to express feelings through song or some other cultural activity. His sighs will be as hot and frequent as the air coming out of a furnace. In his lips, there will be a “woeful ballad” that may describe his lady-love’s eye-brow.
During the fourth age, he will be a soldier. As any other young adult, he would think less of himself and would begin to think more of others. He is very easily aroused and is hot headed. He is always working towards making a “bubble” reputation for himself and gaining recognition even at the cost of his own life.
In age V, Jaques finds him as a justice. He would have acquired wisdom through the many experiences he has had in life. He has reached a stage where he has gained prosperity and social status. He becomes very attentive of his looks and begins to enjoy the finer things of life. His belly becomes round due to high calorie delicious food he used to have. His looks will be very serious and would have a beard of formal cut. His talks will be filled with wise as well as modern instances.
Sixth age is old age when he begins to lose his charm — both physical and mental. He begins to become the brunt of others’ jokes. He loses his firmness and assertiveness, and shrinks in stature and personality. He becomes a “lean and slippered” fool,
“with spectacles on nose and pouch on side”.
The garb he had in his youth becomes too loose for his body to fill in. Also, his manly voice has become a childish treble, intervened by pipes and whistles.
In the seventh age, mental dementia and death, which jaques call “second childishness” rules his body. He loses his status and he becomes a non-entity. He becomes dependent on others like a child and is in need of constant support before finally dying. He would lose his teeth, his eyes, his taste and everything that supports his body to survive.