Question

read the excerpt from as you like it by william shakespeare. all the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players. they have their exits and their entrances. what do shakespeares metaphors most likely mean? people play different roles throughout their lives. people are always pretending to be someone else. people are extremely dramatic sometimes. people all go through the same phases of life.

Explanation:

The metaphor "All the world's a stage" compares life to a theatrical performance. In a play, actors (people) have different roles (phases of life) and enter (birth) and exit (death) the stage. This implies that people go through common life phases like childhood, adulthood, etc. The other options are either too extreme (always pretending) or not the main metaphorical meaning (dramatic sometimes, playing different roles without the life - phase context).

Answer:

People all go through the same phases of life.