Players and Lovers

I want to address two different quotes from my play. One is wholly more self-aware, and one is just an entertaining and clever ploy that I can't help but draw attention to. The first is the classic, "All the World's a Stage" poem in Act II Scene VII, from Jacques.

  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. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his 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 he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his 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.

It's long, I know. But there are just so many different angles to look at this from! First, there's the context in the play, which is that we play roles--that of the baby, the teenager, the adult, the old man, etc. This is important in and of itself because we already know Shakespeare addresses issues of old age and senility. Is this perhaps another jab at the old age that admittedly plagues every person, but is still reprehensible to the youthful characters of the plays? Another angle is that of the performance aspect. Jacques speaks truth when he says that we are all players, on a stage. But this goes deeper than simply our position in life--these are literal roles and we are performing for the world as we go through the necessary roles in life. 

The other quote is from Rosalind in disguise to Orlando, when she tells him he cannot possibly be in love. 

Act III Scene II

A lean cheek, which you have not, a blue eye and
sunken, which you have not, an unquestionable
spirit, which you have not, a beard neglected,
which you have not; but I pardon you for that, for
simply your having in beard is a younger brother's
revenue: then your hose should be ungartered, your
bonnet unbanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe
untied and every thing about you demonstrating a
careless desolation; but you are no such man; you
are rather point-device in your accoutrements as
loving yourself than seeming the lover of any other.

So in this scene Orlando asks Rosalind in disguise why she doesn't believe he can be in love with Rosalind, and despite knowing full well his complete devotion, she still goes into this lengthy description with him. I find this rather characteristic of this play in general, and of this character. It's cunning and witty, and she manipulates him in the kindest way to get what she wants.