The Seven Ages of Man:

Introduction:
These dialogues were written by William
Shakespeare in his play As you like it; these lines
were delivered by the character of this play.
Through these dialogues he compared Human life
stages to theatre roles which were being played in
Elizabethen period in which first theatre was opened
in history ; initially it was to please the Queen but
later on through this they started to flourish the ideas
about common man existence. In these dialogues
seven stages or aged or man are presented and all the
lines are complete in their thoughts.
Summary:
It was written by great poet of Elizabethen period
William Shakespeare in which he compared stage
roles to real life stages of man and he portrayed
seven stages like infant, boy, lover, soldier, justice,
weak man, a old man. The opening lines delivers
that in all stages of life man plays a different role
by different times ; as in theatre different roles are
assigned to different different individuals, in the
same way in real life every man plays seven roles.
Moreover, like the stage performers has the entrance
and exit in the same real life has too. Later he
explained all the seven stages. He wrote firstly a man
enter into this world in the form of infant when he
open his eyes first time finds himself in the arm’s of
nurses , he cries and puks. As time passes a man
enters into school boy stage; a boy is not ready for
going to school so along his bag he creeps like a
snail. Later on a man enters into lover’s stage; in this
stage he has the strong feeling towards mistress ;
feels unknown happiness and sings woeful songs for
her. Then enters into soldiers stage where he takes
strange oaths even that he had not heard before; and
indulges in his temporary reputation for this sake he
can take any risk, and he has no worry for his cruel
immediate acts. Then enters into justice stage ; he
makes corruption and starts to dress like a formal
reputable man, even now he speaks wisely. Later on
enters into sixth stage where he starts to become
weaker and even his old saved dresses for future are
not fit to him because of his decrease weight; now
wears slippers and pantaloon. At last a man again
becomes a child; without teeth, no knowledge about
external world , a man who has nothing more than
muscles and bones. By passing these stages a man
exits and his connection ends with the world as stage
performer’s end with the stage.
Critical analysis:
These lines are taken from William
Shakespeare’s play As you like it; Act ii scene
vii. It is in the form of soliloquy delivered by
Jacques. In addition to it he wrote it in iambic
pentameter but all the lines not follow this
structure. He used many literary devices like
smilie, metaphor, imagery, personification,
and alliteration for making poem more
rythmatic. In this poem Shakespeare compared
stage’s characters to real world men life.
Firstly a child comes into this world then goes
to school, falls in love, perform a job, becomes
old man and lastly dies. Moreover,
Shakespeare had not shown any particular aim
of one’s life in this poem, it seems that men
just comes into world for playing the role
later on goes, had not shown any profound
effect of one’s existence. Moreover, he had
shown the violatory side of upper class and
neglected lower.

Literary devices:
Simile
It is used for indirectly comparison of two
different things. Like and as words are used
for comparison.
Examples from poem:
Creeping like snail, Sighing like furnace,
Bearded like the pard.
Metaphor
It is used for direct comparison of two
different things.
Examples from poem:
mewling and puking, whining schoolboy,
sighing like furnace, full of strange oaths,
bearded like the pard, spectacles on nose, last
scene of all that ends this strange eventful
history, All the word’s a stage, all the men and
women merely players.
Imagery:
Imagery is used for vividly portraying the
scenes for catching readers attention.
Examples from poem:
mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms,
creeping like snail unwillingly to school,
sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
made to his mistress’ eyebrow, seeking the
bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth,
in fair round belly with good capon lined, a
lean and slippered pantaloon, sans teeth, sans
eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Alliteration
In this literary device vowel and consonant
sounds are used for making rythm in poem.
Examples from the poem:
quick in quarrel, And so he plays his part, and
a world too wide for his shrunk shank, sans
teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Hyperbole:
This literary device is used for exaggeration.
Example from poem:
The word sans used in the last line of the
poem, which represents completely a
exaggeration.
Criticism
The title of these dialogues is somewhat
inaccurate The seven stages of man. The word
man is literally used for younghood man; but
in this poem Shakespeare had portrayed seven
stages of men including childhood, school
boy, lover, soldier, justice, old man, again
child, in this sense the word man is inaccurate.
Instead of using man he would use men for
referring overall men. In my opinion it could
be a mistake because in that time the language
was not standardized; later on with the help of
unique contributions through the works by
Shakespeare language started to standardize.
This poem explained all the man stages but
not really fits to every man not even in
Elizabethen time. In Elizabethen period army
was growning for defending country later on
it’s purpose was changed and army started to
support for trade and commerce of the country
and army families started to flourish and
become richer and richer day by day without
working harder as there were no battles were
faught in that period ; it was almost a peaceful
and balanced era. But when one see this poem
overall so it really not portrayed every man
because in Elizabethen period there were too
peasant class who do not get fits in the soldier
and justice category; more often were the
victims of higher ranking classes. In this light
one can say that the seven stages are not for
every men. If one see overall men life, every
individual falls in the stage of Child,
schoolboy but somewhat not in pover class, a
lover, later on can say that man becomes a
affectionate father who work’s for family not
every class falls in the category of soldier and
justice, later on a old man. If we conclude
these stages so there are only five stages in
which most of the men falls. Moreover,
Shakespeare wrote that in the eighth stage man
becomes weaker but if one see not every old
becomes weaker because now here is the more
ratio of diabetic old patients and more often
they become the victim of gain weight more
than lossing.
Original Text:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and 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.
Then, the whining schoolboy 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 lin’d,
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 sav’d, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards 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.
Characters
Through the five stages Shakespeare portrayed seven
different characters in these dialogues.
Infant:
This infant character open eyes into the world by crying
in the arm’s of nurse in the hospital , and starts to
observe this world in which he has to play his part.
Schoolboy:
The second stage as a character according to
Shakespeare, a child do not want to go to school but
parents sent him, so unhappily goes to school as passes
through this stage.
Lover:
In this stage a boy falls in love and unconciously sings
a song for beloved . More often starts to write poetry
and praiseful words for her and for a time being
disconnects himself from the external world.
Soldier:
In this stage a man holds a job and performs duty, but
by spending more time in job and gaining higher status
indulges in proud and violates lower.
Justice:
In this stage a man is more intellectual than the previous
stages , now he makes decision wisely and wear dresses
accordingly to his job with formal cuts.
Old man:
In this stage Shakespeare portrayed a man weaker
because according to him most of the men suffer with
diseaes in this stage. Most of the time a man spends in
bed by laying and completely depend on others. But it
not happen every time because most of the person in old
age gains more weight and become heavier in size it
might be with any particular illness.
Again child:
In this stage a old man starts to lose his memory and
completely dependent on others, only wants love and
time of near by individuals. In this stage a man becomes
more emotional than ever, weeps on little things.
Themes
Mature and dies:
In this poem the conqueroring theme is death.
According to this poem everyone comes into this world
but after getting mature and gaining experience of this
life lastly dies.
Changes caused by the time:
In this poem Shakespeare portrayed seven different
stages who goes through a change time by time as their
age increases. By this change their intellect increases
and gets mature.
Memory:
When a child comes into this world, he has memory but
time passes and he collect memories but what happens
in old age he again starts to lose it . A man come into
this world without memory and goes with less memory.
Purpose of life:
Through the seven stages Shakespeare had shown the
growth of a person. But when one see it critically so he
didn’t showed any purpose of a man’s life. It seems like
this in this world there is no particular need of
individual, if you wouldn’t exist the world would goes
on. Moreover, seems like man is a decoration piece like
literary devices in poem.
Anger of man:
This poem shows aggressive nature of man in the form
of soldier and judiciary; who violates the subordinate
and shows power over them by getting any post.