Bring out the comparison between the world and the stage in the soliloquy of Jaques in As You Like It.

This important and incredibly famous soliloquy is
delivered in Act II scene 7 in this play. In this soliloquy, Jacques compares the world
to a stage, and the people that inhabit that world to players who act out a role on the
stage and play many different characters during their
lifetime:

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.

The more you think
about this extended metaphor, the more truth we see in it as we recognise that way in
which our lives are "acted out" in front of audiences. We do indeed all have our "exits
and entrances," and as the soliloquy goes on to demonstrate, we all play different roles
during our lifespan. As Jaques goes on to describe these "seven ages," we are forced to
see how our role changes and develops as we grow older, until we reach the seventh age,
with the rather terrifying image of being left with "second childness" and "mere
oblivion." And on this age, the curtain falls on our life.