All the world's a stage(Shakespeare)

Question

All the world's a stage(Shakespeare)      Does "world's" mean "world is"?       If so, I made the sentence below according to a Chinese idiom:      All the nation's a chess.     Does it make sense?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Hi Jobb,

Yes, all the world is a stage and all the men and women in it are merely players. We perform our roles and then we die.

'Chess' is uncountable; it is the name of the game. Its counter is 'game"-- one game of chess, two chess games, etc.

'All the nation is a game of chess' does not make sense to me, because the nation is just the entity. Are you trying to say something like 'international relations are a game of chess' or 'national politics is a game of chess'? Or are you talking about the physical country: 'the country is laid out in political squares, like a chessboard'?

Hope this helps.

Jobb · Answer

In China, especially in the day of Chinese dictator Mao,  the saying  "all the nation is a game of chess" prevailed. It referred to every man in the nation was a chessman, who had to obey the order from the central government -- actually to obey the order from Mao,  so that "China"  would act as a well-trained army and win any battle.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Interesting, Jobb-- and probably a saying that also made it into the western press in those days, but I just missed it. I'm not very politically aware. Thanks for explaining.

MM

PoorRichard · Answer

Cf '****' imagery in English, e.g. 'only a **** in their game'.

This usually carries negative connotations.

All the world's a stage(Shakespeare)

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