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Test: GED Language Arts (RLA)
Adapted from As You Like It by William Shakespeare (1623)
[This is a monologue by the character Jacques]
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,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
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. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing.
| 1. | How does the underlined "toward childish treble" help to develop the author's closing point? |
It strengthens the paradox of the situation in life found in the arrogance of the "justice."
It plays no explicit role and is merely descriptive.
It shocks the reader with an untrue assertion, for many men do not end up having high voices in late life.
It prepares the reader for the final assertion, in which the author will state that at the end of life man returns to childhood, often being as powerless as a newborn.
It distracts the reader's attention from the discussion of the "justice," which was a bit long and could overawe the reader.
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