Which Shakespeare comedy features the line 'All the world's a stage'?
Answer
As You Like It
Answer
As You Like It
The Shakespeare comedy featuring the line “All the world's a stage” is As You Like It.
The speech is delivered by Jaques in Act II, Scene 7. He compares human life to a theatrical performance, describing seven stages that people pass through, from infancy and childhood to old age and death. The passage is one of Shakespeare's most widely quoted reflections on the human condition.
The play itself follows Rosalind after she is banished from court. Disguised as a young man named Ganymede, she travels with her cousin Celia to the Forest of Arden, where several characters explore love, identity, exile, and social roles.
A common mix-up is to associate the quotation with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre because of its theatrical imagery. However, the line belongs specifically to Jaques in As You Like It. Jaques is a melancholy observer, and his speech is more philosophical and detached than the play's romantic comedy around him.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026