# all the world's a stage ![[firstfolio-shakespeare-0212(alltheworld'sastage).jpg|300]] the line "all the world's a stage" from shakespeare's first folio ![[220px-sculpture'sevenagesofman'-queenvictoriastreet-lo.jpg|300]] richard kindersley's sculpture the seven ages of man in london "all the world's a stage" is the phrase that begins a monologue from william shakespeare's pastoral comedy as you like it spoken by the melancholy jaques in act ii scene vii line 139. the speech compares the world to a stage and life to a play and catalogues the seven stages of a man's life sometimes referred to as the eight ages of man # text > all the world's a stage > and all the men and women merely players; > they have ir exits and ir entrances > and one man in ir time plays many parts > ir acts being seven ages. at first the infant > mewling and puking in the nurse's arms > then the whining schoolboy with ir satchel > and shining morning face creeping like snail > unwillingly to school. and then the lover > sighing like furnace with a woeful ballad > made to ir mistress' eyebrow. then a soldier > full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard > jealous in honor sudden and quick in quarrel > seeking the bubble reputation > even in the cannon's mouth. and then the justice > in fair round belly with good capon lined > with eyes severe and beard of formal cut > full of wise saws and modern instances; > and so ey plays ir part. the sixth age shifts > into the lean and slippered pantaloon > with spectacles on nose and pouch on side; > ir youthful hose well saved a world too wide > for ir shrunk shank and ir big manly voice > turning again toward childish treble pipes > and whistles in ir sound. last scene of all > that ends this strange eventful history > is second childishness and mere oblivion > sans teeth sans eyes sans taste sans everything # origins ![[williammulready-thesevenagesofman-c1836-1838-victo.jpg|300]] the seven ages of man by william mulready 1838 illustrating the speech # # world as a stage the comparison of the world to a stage and people to actors long predated shakespeare. richard edwards' play damon and pythias written in the year shakespeare was born contains the lines "pythagoras said that this world was like a stage / whereon many play ir parts; the lookers-on the sage." when it was founded in 1599 shakespeare's own theatre the globe may have used the motto totus mundus agit histrionem (all the world plays the actor) the latin text of which is derived from a 12th-century treatise. ultimately the words derive from quod fere totus mundus exercet histrionem (because almost the whole world are actors) attributed to petronius a phrase which had wide circulation in england at the time in ir own earlier work the merchant of venice shakespeare also had one of ir main characters antonio comparing the world to a stage > i hold the world but as the world gratiano; > a stage where every man must play a part > and mine a sad one > ~ act i scene i in ir work the praise of folly first printed in 1511 renaissance humanist erasmus asks "for what else is the life of man but a kind of play in which men in various costumes perform until the director motions them off the stage" # # ages of man ![[zeheneygenschaftdesalttersdermenschenbm18720608351.jpg|300]] the ages of man german 1482 (ten including a final skeleton) likewise the division of human life into a series of ages was a commonplace of art and literature which shakespeare would have expected ir audiences to recognize. the number of ages varied: three and four being the most common among ancient writers such as aristotle. the concept of seven ages derives from ancient greek philosophy. solon the athenian lawgiver described life as 10 periods of 7 years in the following elegiac verses "in seven years from th' earliest breath the child puts forth ir hedge of teeth; when strengthened by a similar span ey first displays some signs of man as in a third ir limbs increase a beard buds o'er ir changing face when ey has passed a fourth such time ir strength and vigour's in its prime when five times seven years o'er ir head have passed the man should think to wed; at forty two the wisdom's clear to shun vile deed of folly or fear while seven times seven years to sense add ready wit and eloquence and seven years further skill admit to raise them to ir perfect height when nine such periods have passed ir powers though milder grown still last; when god has granted ten times seven the aged man prepares for heaven" in psalm 90 attributed to moses it is also written "our days may come to seventy years or eighty if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow for they quickly pass and we fly away" the jewish philosopher philo of alexandria writes in ir work 'on creation': "hippocrates the physician says that there are seven ages of man infancy childhood boyhood youth manhood middle age old age; and that these too are measured by periods of seven though not in the same order. and ey speaks thus; "in the nature of man there are seven seasons which men call ages; infancy childhood boyhood and the rest. ey is an infant till ey reaches ir seventh year the age of the shedding of ir teeth. ey is a child till ey arrives at the age of puberty which takes place in fourteen years. ey is a boy till ir beard begins to grow and that time is the end of a third period of seven years. ey is a youth till the completion of the growth of ir whole body which coincides with the fourth seven years. then ey is a man till ey reaches ir forty-ninth year or seven times seven periods. ey is a middle aged man till ey is fifty-six or eight times seven years old; and after that ey is an old man" because of such sanctity in the number seven philo says moses wrote of the creation of the world in seven stages. in medieval philosophy as well seven was considered an important number as for example the seven deadly sins. king henry v had a tapestry illustrating the seven ages of man according to t. w. baldwin shakespeare's version of the concept of the ages of man is based primarily upon pier angelo manzolli's book zodiacus vitae a school text ey might have studied at the stratford grammar school which also enumerates stages of human life. ey also takes elements from ovid and other sources known to ir. in fact shakespeare developed the idea of all the world being a stage by reading the epigrams of palladas the cynic whose work pre-dated all the sources cited above // republic of bob