As You Like It in the context of "Metaphor"

"All the world's a stage" is the phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare's pastoral comedy As You Like It, spoken by the melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VII Line 139. The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a play and catalogues the seven stages of a man's life, sometimes referred to as the seven ages of man.

Jaques (variously /ˈdʒeɪkwiːz/ and /ˈdʒeɪkz/) is one of the main characters in Shakespeare's As You Like It. "The melancholy Jaques", as he is known, is one of the exiled Duke Senior's noblemen who lives with him in the Forest of Arden. Jaques takes no part in the unfolding of the plot, and confines himself to wry comment on the action and exchanges with his fellow characters. He has one of Shakespeare's best-known speeches, "All the world's a stage".

Wilton House is an English country house at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, which has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years. It was built on the site of the medieval Wilton Abbey. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII presented Wilton Abbey and its attached estates to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke. The house has literary associations. Shakespeare's theatre company performed there (As You Like It may have been the chosen work), and there was an important literary salon culture under its occupation by Mary Sidney, wife of the second Earl.

The present Grade I listed house is the result of rebuilding after a 1647 fire, although a small section of the house built for William Herbert survives; alterations were made in the early 19th and early 20th centuries. The house stands in gardens and a park which are also Grade I listed. While still a family home, the house and grounds are open to visitors during the summer months.

Rosalind is the heroine and protagonist of the play As You Like It (1600) by William Shakespeare. In the play, she disguises herself as a male shepherd named Ganymede. Many actors have portrayed Rosalind, including Sarah Wayne Callies, Maggie Smith, Elisabeth Bergner, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, Helen Mirren, Patti LuPone, Helen McCrory, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrian Lester and Arabella Dulcie.

Celia is one of the important characters of Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Celia is the daughter of Duke Frederick and niece of the banished Duke Senior. Celia and Rosalind are cousins but they have sisterly affection.

Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and political activist. In a career spanning over six decades, her accolades include an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, Volpi Cup and an Olivier Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. She has also received various honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Redgrave made her acting debut on stage with the production of A Touch of Sun in 1958. She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in the Shakespearean comedy As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has since starred in numerous productions in the West End and on Broadway. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Revival for The Aspern Papers (1984), and received nominations for A Touch of the Poet (1988), John Gabriel Borkman (1997), and The Inheritance (2019). She also won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the revival of Long Day's Journey into Night (2003), and was nominated for The Year of Magical Thinking (2007) and Driving Miss Daisy (2011).

Helen Elizabeth McCrory OBE (17 August 1968 – 16 April 2021) was an English actress. After studying at the Drama Centre London, she made her professional stage debut in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990. Other theatre roles include playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, and Medea in the eponymous play at the Royal National Theatre.

McCrory is known for her film roles as Françoise in Charlotte Gray (2001); Cherie Blair in both The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010), alongside Michael Sheen, who portrayed husband and Prime Minister Tony Blair in both; Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films (2009, 2010, 2011); Mama Jeanne in Hugo (2011); and Clair Dowar in the James Bond film Skyfall (2012). She was also known for her television roles as Polly Gray in the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2013–2019); Madame Kali in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful (2014–15); Emma Banville in the ITV series Fearless (2017); and Kathryn Villiers in the BBC mini-series MotherFatherSon (2019).