"All the World's a Stage" Trivia Quiz

Answer:

"As You Like It" is a pastoral comedy written by William Shakespeare. It is set in the Forest of Arden to which many of the characters have been banished. Among these comes a traveller, Jaques, who is not at all pleased with the bucolic setting. A self-diagnosed melancholic, Jaques persists in pointing out the hardships of country life, even when others find some good in it. The others find his sullen brooding amusing, which displeases him the more. In the scene where the famous "all the world's a stage" speech occurs (Act II, s. 7), Jaques addresses Duke Senior. In it, he compares life to being an actor in a play with successive scenes. These are infancy, childhood, the age of first love, the age of military service, middle age, old age, and senescent dotage. The comparison is largely negative, dispirited, and bleak ... which is quite what one might expect from Jaques.

A notable actor who spoke these lines was Kevin Line in Kenneth Branagh's strange 2006 adaptation [it is set in Japan!]. Others include Jack Green (2021 Melbourne Theatre Company), Brian Bedford (2005 Stratford Festival production), David Suchet (1981 Royal Shakespeare Company stage production), Richard Pasco (1978 BBC Television production), Alan Howard (1963 Royal Shakespeare Company stage production), Max Adrian (1963 BBC Television movie), and Leon Quartermaine (1936 motion picture).

The notion of the seven ages of man was not at all original to Shakespeare. An earlier version is that asked as a riddle by the Sphinx of Oedipus Rex: "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?" The seven-age version dates from the 1100s; Henry VIII had a tapestry depicting it.

British typeface designer and stone carver Richard Kindersley created a sculpture called the Seven Ages of Man in 1980 and installed it at Baynard House in London. It depicts seven male heads, stacked one atop another, like a totem pole, beginning with the baby on the bottom. The Mitchell Wing of the State Library of New South Wales contains the Shakespeare Room. It is lit by seven stained-glass windows created by Sydney stained-glass artist Arthur G. Benfield in 1942. Each of the ages of man is represented in a panel. Robert Smirke painted the Seven Stages of Man (pen and ink and oil on seven panels) in 1798-1801 for John and Josiah Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery. A recent modern location is the Yale Center for British Art.

"As You Like It" has a "Shakespearean ending." This is a term of art when applied to the conclusions of Shakespeare's comedies. An oversimplification is that, in all of his tragedies, everybody dies in the end whereas, in all of his comedies, everybody gets married in the end. In most of the comedies, one or more couples get married, relationships are mended and enmities are reconciled, the social order is restored, harmony prevails as does hopefulness, and festivities are celebrated. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" ends in weddings. "Much Ado About Nothing" concludes with love, joy, dancing and laughter. Shakespeare comedies are rather like modern teen-comedy motion pictures in that lovers overcome challenges but marry happily and hopefully in the end. Compare: "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999) based on "Taming of the Shrew," "She's the Man" (2006) based on "Twelfth Night," and "Kiss Me Kate" (1953), also based on "The Taming of the Shrew."

In the last scene of "As You Like It," everybody gets married except the stagehands and ushers. Eight characters marry, with Hymen (the Greek god of weddings) presiding, bidding everyone to happiness, harmony, and dancing. Everybody weds except Jaques. He elects not to return to the city with the Duke Senior and his retinue. He decides instead to remain in the Forest of Arden and adopt a life of monastic asceticism. While one might find this outcome sad, Jaques gets what he wants -- quiet, solitude, and introspection -- which is "as [he] like[s] it."