"All the world's a stage..."

Long view of London, 1647, by Wenceslaus Hollar

William Shakespeare is arguably one of the most, if not the most influential and recognizable playwrights in all history. He has numerous amounts of writings including loads of sonnets and plays. His plays have been continuously performed since his time even to this day.

"The birthday of William Shakespeare, the third child and the eldest son of this locally prominent man, is unrecorded, but the Stratford parish register records that the infant was baptized on 26 April 1564" (Gilman, vii-viii). While his original birth date is not known many dub his birth date to be on 23 April 1564 due to his death on that date many years later or because it was a feast day and celebration in England. Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616.

Title-page of the First Folio, with portrait of Shakespear engraved by Martin Droeshout

One of Shakespeare's most well know quotes is, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.."(Gilman, pg 43). This quote comes from the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare. As You Like It, "develops many of the traditional features and concerns of the pastoral genre. This comedy examines the cruelties and corruption of court life and gleefully pokes holes in one of humankind’s greatest artifices: the conventions of romantic love" (Sparknotes, context). The play's main character is a young woman named, Rosalind. In the court she "falls in love" with a young man named Orlando. Shortly after Rosalind gets banished from the court. So Rosalind and her cousin Celia go off into hiding in the country, the pastoral, where Rosalind dresses as a man. While dressed as a man she runs into her love, Orlando again and thus starts a crazy road to a happy ending. There are crazy antics, hilarious characters, and even a wedding! The show is upbeat, comical and fun for all!

Sources Cited:

As You Like It; William Shakespeare, editied by Albert Gilman; Signet Classics; New York; 1998

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on As You Like It.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2003. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/asyoulikeit/context.html

Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction; Germaine Greer; Oxford University Press; New York; 2002