Zenas Olamide 

“All the world’s a stage,

 And all the men and women

 Merely players;

 They have their exits and their entrances…”

“All the world’s a stage” is a phrase that has its origin from a monologue in one of William Shakespeare’s comedies titled As you like it. The phrase mentioned above is a metaphor. As a Metaphor, there is a direct comparison between “world” and “stage.”  Every living soul on this planet Earth believes we are not meant to be “here” forever. The popular saying, “nothing we bring come, nothing we go carry go” is an attestation to the fact that this world is not any father’s house. Sooner or later, each and everyone of us will take the last step toward the backstage in the drama of life.

From the literary angle, it is believed that everything we do as humans is based on performance. These actions cut across all segments of life. Life as a performance simply put, means that everything we do in our daily lives is nothing, but acting. The moment a foetus is brought to life, the baby joins the group of actors and actresses on the stage of life. The baby becomes a new actor. The play called life will not be forever. As much as everyone wishes the play could go on and on, we all have to retire and go to the back stage. Just like an actor does not appear on stage after his role, the same way a human stops to live once he kicks the bucket. 

At one point or the other, we have heard people say, “You are writing your own story.” The root of a drama is a story. If we claim that life is drama, which is performance based, then we, as humans, are writing and acting our stories. In the Religious view, particularly to the christians, they believe that everyone will stand before the throne of God to give account of how they have lived their lives. In the traditional view, the Yorubas believe that Olodumare has destined each and everyone of us to be a particular personality. They also believe that Olodumare has given or shown a child what he will become in the future. All the child needs to do is to act out the will of Olodumare.

As we continue our day-to-day living and activities, there is a progression in our story. The fact that we were not where we used to be some years ago shows a development in the plot of the story we are acting. There’s a past to our story, the present which is where we are at the moment, then the future which no one knows. We can only sit back and see how the suspense unfolds. I guess that’s what life is all about. As some will always say, “Life is a suspense, be prepared for anything.”

At one point or the other in our life, the elements of literature come into play. Let us talk about flashbacks and foreshadowing. In trying to remember an incident or event, we have all zoomed to the past just to pick up the exact detail(s). We tend to say, “ohh… I want to remember this thing…” We close our eyes, then zoom off to the past to remember. Flashback, is that you? Yes,I am. On the other hand, we tend to imagine ourselves how we will be in a few years to come. We get a glimpse of things to come.That is what foreshadowing is all about. A practical example is dream. To some people, their dreams reveal things to come which in turn can serve as foreshadowing. These two elements come into play in our  experiences as humans. 

To know how to navigate our ways in this world and live peacefully in it, we need to view the world as a stage. As I have said in the paragraphs above, humans engage in performance in any given society. For instance, I am a student. Aside from being a student, I am a teacher too. In addition to the two identities I have, I am a campus Journalist too. Now, I have three identities and these various identities make me up as a person. It is safe to say I have three faces. I put up the needed face at the required time. Each of the three  identities mentioned above requires performance from me. I can not act as a “teacher” where I am expected to act as a student. In the language of the Gen Zs, “I go explain tire” for my lecturer. It is the same way I cannot act as a teacher when I am supposed to be a campus journalist. I simply act out my roles in any situation I find myself in. 

In conclusion, Literature is life. The world is our stage and everyone is an actor. For every title, office and identity we have, there is a performance to it. This does not exclude religious settings too. In a Christian setting, the pastor’s preaching is seen as acting. He makes gestures and acts out some scenes from the Bible as if he was present. The Bible is Literature, hence the reasons for the “actions.”