Monologue 24. Angela

When I was young my father always told me how important it was to get on in life and be a success. “You must make something of your life,” he used to say. I think he wanted me to be a doctor or an engineer or something like that. And I can remember how disappointed he was when I left school early and started work as a secretary.

It was a small badly-run company and when I went there they told me the job wasn’t difficult and I would soon pick it up. At the beginning I liked the job, but as time passed the work started to take up more of my time and I found I was working late in the evenings and even at weekends. And in addition to this I had to put up with poor working conditions and a low salary – I earned just enough to get by – and there were no promotion prospects at all. All this really got me down. And then I started to wonder if it was really cut out for this kind of work – it didn’t really suit me or my particular abilities.

Then one day – I remember I’d been working very hard that month and had put in a lot of extra hours – I went to see my boss to ask for some time off work. I needed to visit my mother who wasn’t well at the time. I have to say that I didn’t get on with my boss very well. Anyway, he refused point-blank. He said it was out of the question and he didn’t want to hear another word. I tried explaining but I just couldn’t get through to him. He wouldn’t listen. So I walked out of the office and as far as I was concerned, that was it, that was the last straw. The next day I handed in my resignation and I said to myself I would never put myself in that kind of position again. I decided to return to studying and go in for law. I graduated from London University and now I’m starting to make my way in the world. As my father used to say: “ The world is my oyster”.

So was my father right? Is it important to get on in the world? Well, in some way it is. But it depends on how you measure success and what you want to get out of life. After all, there are other things in life besides work.

25. All the world’s a stage by w. Shakespeare

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.

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like 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 lined,

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 saved, 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 everything.

merelyy= just, only

infant = a young child mewling = a small weak noise that a cat makes (in modern English, 'to mew')

puking = being sick, vomiting

satchel = a shoulder bag that children sometimes use to carry books to school

furnace = an object which contains a fire, used for heating

woeful = unhappy (old-fashioned English)

oaths = promises

pard = a large cat, such as a leopard (old-fashioned English)

jealous in honour = here, jealous means that someone takes care of something very carefully - so the young man takes great care of his honour, his reputation as a good man

Seeking the bubble reputation = a bubble is empty

Even in the cannon's mouth = a 'cannon' was a large gun, and it's 'mouth' was at the front - so the man seeks his reputation even if it means standing in front of guns, i.e. going to war or getting in fights

round belly = belly means 'stomach' - so a 'round belly' is a large or fat man's stomach!

good capon lin'd = 'to line' means to fill something at the edges (e.g. 'line a tin for baking a cake') and 'capon' was chicken to eat - so the man was fat from eating good chicken

wise saws = wise sayings or phrases (old-fashioned English)

instances = examples (as in 'for instance')

lean and slipper'd pantaloon = here 'lean' means 'thin'; a slipper is what people wear indoors; a 'pantaloon' meant an old man - so this describes a thin old man who stays inside

pouch = a small bag for carrying money

hose = tights, thin trousers that men wore in Shakespeare's time well sav'd = kept carefully

a world too wide = much too big

shrunk shank = 'to shrink' means to grow smaller, and a 'shank' is a piece of meat cut from a leg of an animal - so the man's legs have grown narrower with age

Turning again toward = becoming again

treble = a treble is the higher part of a piece of music - so Shakespeare is referring to a boy's high voice

pipes = a musical instrument that makes a high sound

eventful = full of activity, containing lots of events

history = here, a kind of play that talks about events in the past

second childishness = being like a child again (in modern English, we sometimes talk about a 'second childhood')

mere = here, absolute or complete (old-fashioned use)

oblivion = if someone is 'oblivious' they don't know what is happening around them, and if they live in 'oblivion' they are completely forgotten by other people

Sans = without (this is French for 'without')