"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."
--From As You Like It (II, vii, 139-143)
Jaques is a libertine-turned-philosopher in this pastoral satire. He has turned to philosophy in his quest for a new identity, and as a philosopher he questions much of what he sees around him, causing him to offer the this oration, which runs considerably longer than the excerpted piece. Jaques sees the world as a stage upon which people perform, and their different ages represent different acts and scenes in the play. His descriptions suggest that the roles are somewhat beyond the players' control and that the script for this play has already been written by an eternal power. In addition, Shakespeare was always aware of his art, and of the theater; and, while this is expressed in nearly every play and sonnet, nothing quite comes as close to this expression than Jaques's oration in As You Like It. |
