What was Big Willy Shakes going for?
When Jaques says "all the world's a stage," he's being more depressing than ever, but in a wise sort of way. For one thing, he draws our attention to the drama-rama that is day-to-day living. Well, that sounds about right. But what he's really doing here is reducing human life to an acting role, which is a pretty cynical thing to do.
Now most of us aren't actors, but we do know how to act in our day-to-day lives. We say "thank-you" and smile at strangers; we pretend our aunt's famous casserole is actually edible; and we put on a show for our parents when we're late for curfew. We're all actors at one moment or another.
Of course, Shakespeare also draws our attention to the fact that the guy saying all this really is nothing more than an actor performing a role on a stage. Shakespeare loves reminding his play-going audiences that they're at the theater, and he does it in just about all of his plays. (Did we mention that Shakespeare's acting company worked in a theater called The Globe… sounds kind of like The World, right?)
But there's more to this speech than Shakespeare just saying bazinga to his audience. Jaques also breaks down all human life into seven stages:
- Puking infant
- Whining school boy
- Young, sighing lover
- The soldier
- The "justice" or upstanding leader
- Silly old man who thinks he's still young ("pantaloon")
- Super-old man, toothless, blind, and as helpless as a baby
He thinks that all men fall into these categories, and that these define who people are. So, if you're a super old guy, then you have no teeth, no faculties, and no real purpose. Sounds a bit harsh, doesn't it? Basically, the world according to Jaques is full of people who are all the same, and who go from one state of dependency (as infants) to another (as elderly). Try telling your grandma that next time you visit.
As it turns out, this isn't a new idea. The whole seven-ages-of-man concept is pretty ancient. (We're talking Aristotle ancient.) So Jaques might even be trying to show off a little here. And he's also quoting an idea Shakespeare's audience was already super familiar with.
But Shakespeare just adds a little theatrical twist to it. Instead of just being about the ages of man, this speech is about the performance of these ages as well—on the stage that is the world.
You probably noticed that Jaques's little formula for all of humankind is a major overgeneralization of human life. Can everyone just be separated into these specific seven categories? No, we didn't think so either. There's more to life than just being a helpless old guy who relies on others, as the courageous and loyal servant Adam shows us in this very play.
We're thinking the fact that Shakespeare has the grumpy dude say this speech has a little something to do with this. Maybe Jaques just sees the world like this because he's a bit of a party pooper. Shakespeare, on the other hand, probably had a more nuanced (and maybe even more uplifting?) outlook.