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The Seven Ages of Man : William Shakespeare

In the famous monologue from William Shakespeare's As You Like It ( Act II Scene VII),
Jaques, the melancholy philosopher, comments that human life has seven periods or
ages. Here life of a man is compared to a play and the world is compared to a stage.
Each enters and exits from it according to an inevitable direction. A man or woman is
given some definite roles to play in different times. They have no freedom to do anything
other than that. In that sense, they are merely players.

A play is divided into different acts. Likewise, life of a man can be divided into seven
periods or stages. In different periods, acts or deeds of a person are of different nature.
According to Jaques, in seven different ages of life , a man has to play seven different
roles. The physiological and psychological characteristics of the seven roles are as
follows :

1. The Infant : Infancy is the first stage of human life. In this stage, he is weak and
completely dependent on his mother. He cries and vomits in the nurses arms.
2. The Schoolboy : This is the second stage of his life. He is never interested in
going to school where his freedom is restricted. So, he complains in an annoying
way but finally the bright morning face has to crawl like a snail with his schoolbag.
3. The Lover : The third role which a man plays is of a lover. He is burning with
passion and sighing for his unsuccessful love. The lover writes sorrowful verses in
praise of the beauty of his beloved.
4. The Soldier : This is the next role of a mans life. A soldier takes strange oaths
and wears a rough beard. He is sensitive in matter of honour. He is ready to risk
his life in quarrels and battles for the sake of bubble like fame.

5. The Justice: The fifth role is of a justice. He is fond of tasty food. His belly is
round. He looks stern. He has a well-groomed beard. He quotes proverbs and
refers to recent legal cases.
6. The Late middle-aged person : In this stage, the man becomes lean, thin and
physically weak. He is now unfit for many things of the world. His youthful
stockings are now too much wide for his shrunk legs. So, he wears loose
pantaloon with slippers and spectacles. His manly voice sinks into the piping and
whistling tone of a child.
7. The Old Man : The final stage of human life is of an old man. He sinks into the
world of forgetfulness. He becomes physically and mentally weak, almost like a
child. The man is in a state of second childhood, as if he is completing a perfect
circle in his lifetime! Finally, he looses everything-his ability to eat, his taste and his
vision. Finally he faces the inevitable end of life. The closing line of the poem is an
example of climax where the use of the Latin word sans and the word everything
signifies the extreme point of loss.

Jaques critically examines the different stages of the mans life with a great philosophical
outlook. Jaques sums up his impression of human life in the phrase: strange eventful
history. Human life is full incidents and experiences that seem to be strange to him.
Human life is indeed full of pleasant and unpleasant surprises.

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