Question 1

Question: What according to Shakespeare are the acts in man's life?

Answer: Shakespeare says that every man goes through seven acts in his life time from birth
to death.

Question 2

Question: What is Shakespeare's concept of life?

Answer: Shakespeare considers the world as one huge stage where all of us are actors who
are enacting our clearly defined roles from time to time.

Question 3

Question: Read the following and answer the questions:-

Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrows.

a. Name the stage in man's life.

b. What is 'woeful ballad'?

c. What is the figure of speech in the first line?

Answer: a. This is the lover's stage.

b. It refers to the sad, romantic verse or song written about his true love.

c. The figure of speech used is simile - 'sighing like a furnace'

Question 4

Question: "Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel

seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth.

a. Who is referred to here?

b. What are the distinguishing features of the soldier?

Answer: a. The soldier is referred to here.

b. The soldier is quickly drawn into a fight. He lays great importance on being honourable. He is
always worried about his reputation and will do anything for it, even to the extent of being
blown up by a cannon.

Question 5
Question: "For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice

Turning again toward childish treble.

a. In which act is man playing this part?

b. What features of old age are mentioned here?

Answer: a. He is playing this part in the sixth act when man has reached old age.

b. The man who was so strong is gradually losing his strength. His legs have shrunk considerably
and his once manly voice is becoming quivery and high pitched.

Question 6

Question: Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

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,

This acts being seven ages.

a) What poetic device is used in the above lines?

b) To what in man's life does the poet compare the exists and entrances the stage to?

c) Explain the phrase "one man in his time"

Answer: a) The poet has used a metaphor- a comparison as he has compared the world to a
"stage" with each individual playing parts.

b) The poet compares the exits and entrances of the stage to death and birth of man
respectively.

c) The extended meaning of the phrase "one man in his time" is the in the entire course of a
person's lifetime.

Question 7

Question: Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like a snail

Unwillingly to school.

a) Which stage of human life is described in the above lines?

b) What are the words or phrases which indicate that the boy is not willing to go to school?

Answer: a) The second stage of life, that is boyhood or children is described here.
b) The two phrases which indicate the boy's unwillingness to go to school are

i) Whining school boy

ii) Creeping like a snail unwillingly

Question 8

Question: And then the lover,

Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress's brow.

a) Why does the lover sigh?

b) Name the poetic device. Pick out the line that has it.

Answer: a) The lover sighs and this sounds like a furnace as he is probably disappointed or
frustrated in love.

b) The poetic device is a Simile - sighing like a furnace.

Question 9

Question: Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth.

a) Which stage of human life is described in the above lines. What are the main characteristics
of this stage?

b) What is the "bubble reputation"? How is it linked with the cannon's mouth?

Answer: a) The fourth stage of human life- that is the soldier's stage - has been described here.

The main characteristics are

i) The solider make many promises.

ii) He is beared and looks like a leopard

iii) He is jealous in matters concerning honour.

iv) He is quick in quarrel.

b) Bubble reputation mean a short lived, transitory period of fame. A solider can risk danger or
death to uphold his self-respect. Facing a cannon's mouth invites sure death, but it also
provides honour and glory to the brave soldi
Question 10

Question: And then the Justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes, severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances,

And so he plays his part.

a) How does a man look in this stage of life?

b) What does he do to show his wisdom? Why?

Answer: a) A man is well - dressed in this stage of life. He has severe eyes and a fashionable
beard. This flat round belly indicates his love for food. It is filled with well cooked chicken.

b) He quotes many sayings and examples to show his wisdom. He is a judge and he cites these
examples and sayings while hearing and deciding cases.

Question 11

Question: How is a man's last stage of life described?

Answer: The last stage of man's life is described as "second childishness and mere oblivion". In
this stage man has no teeth. He babbles like a child when he speaks. His memory becomes
weak and he forgets things very quickly. His eye sight deteriorates and he looses his sense of
taste. He behaves like a child who needs to be cared for and his internal organs begin to lose
control. Therefore, it is described as second childishness.