All
the world's a stage
Your
identity is impacted by a diverse anthology of experiences that
you've accumulated through out your life. One of the major aspects
influencing your identity is cultural classifications, this refers to
your nationality, race, religion and gender. Another focus of your
identity is your societal characterizations, these include family,
career and position or title.
Identity
is prone to develop over time as we grow and thrive, expand our
relationships and encounter new escapades. Although we are the
representation of our identities, in no way, shape or form can we
obtain knowledge of the things that will occur to us in the near
future. Everything is preordained, and we have absolutely no control
on how our identities will be moulded.
In
the text 'All the world's a stage', Shakespeare supports this theory
by emphasising that we live a destined life, in which we are actors,
merely playing a role. 'They have their exits and their entrances;',
what this is referring to is the abundance of appearances a man makes
in his life, followed by an unprecedented departure. Also, the number
of people who approach and influence our nature of living is
infinite, and wholly dependent on the experiences we confront.
Shakespeare
convinces us to feel inclined to stray away from the assumption that
we're living an independent and unique life. Just because we possess
a peculiar identity, it doesn't mean that we live an individual life,
there are many others out there doing the same things we do. This
conveys his message to always act humble, regardless of your social
hierarchy.
One
of the most powerful quotes in this text is as follows, 'Last scene
of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second
childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste,
sans everything.'. His emphasis on the last part reflects upon what
it means to be human. We all amount to age, and become oblivious to
everything around us, but the one the thing that preserves our
identity is the way we choose to live our life, since no one will
every know us due to our true identity, instead, they will identify
us based upon the many characters we portrayed.
What
Shakespeare is trying to imply is that our endeavours, pleasures and
pains may just be a form of entertainment to an audience, rather than
a tornado of emotion. The audience, is everyone around us, the people
who are capable to judge, laugh and watch us humiliate ourselves.
Shakespeare states, 'And one man in his time plays many parts', this
suggests that people have no objection of the stages they go through,
only the way they choose to live and act while a part of the
particular scene of their life. Shakespeare teaches us that we don't
choose what we do in our lives, we just rely on a script written by
those who possess much greater power.
Since
this was published in 1623, people's perceptions of identity might
have changed, but the idea's still the same. Features of our
identities that we have control over are the things we let them
affect. For example, we might let our identities choose our paths in
our life's future, or we might leave that decision to someone else.
Shakespeare obviously had a distinct understanding of how to
distinguish an identity by representation in for of a stage.
This is unfinished, yolo get over it.