What figure of speech is illustrated in this sentence? "all the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players" a. metaphor b. personification c. simile

The best answer here is metaphor. Metaphor and simile are closely related as they both are comparisons between two things. However there is one major difference between the two of them: similes use like or as to make their comparison. For example, cute as a button would be a simile. It is because of this that it is metaphor over simile.