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The Seven Ages of Man Summary
The Seven Ages of Man Summary
William Shakespeare
The Seven Ages of Man by William Shakespeare
Introduction:
The Seven Ages of Man, also known as “All the world’s a stage” is a dialogue from
the English playwright William Shakespeare’s comedy ‘As you like it.’ The dialogue
takes place in Scene VII of Act 2 where the dreamy philosopher Jacques is talking to
Duke Senior and Orlando in the forest of Arden. They’re having dinner when Duke
Senior confesses to Jacques that he and his men are alone and unhappy whereas the
whole world is full of joy.
The ‘Seven ages of man’ is the reply Jacques gives to Duke Senior. The purpose of
this reply is partly to console the sad Duke Senior and partly to tell the audience of the
play that unhappiness is a part of life and that we all go through certain stages of life.
The extract is also regarded as the character’s comment on the futility of life.
The ‘ages of man’ was already a beaten-up topic in Shakespeare’s time, so this verse
didn’t really have the kind of popularity it has today. Aristotle had proposed four ages
of man and the idea was around for a long time since then. What’s new in
Shakespeare’s version of the ages of man is that he divides them in seven ages,
whereas it was common for earlier writers and philosophers to divide life in three and
four ages.
The dialogue stands as a strong case for the poet’s argument of the futility of life. We
see this emotion well explored in the play. For instance, we see in the same scene the
line ‘And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe, and then from hour to hour we rot
and rot, and thereby hangs a tale.’ This all the more validates the sentiment of futility
of life expressed in the dialogue.
We can however see a repetition of consonant sounds throughout the poem. Men,
merely, man, many, mewling, morning, etc. and players, plays, parts, puking, etc. are
the prominent examples. Similarly, the final line is the best example of repetition used
to emphasize and dramatize a single sentence where the word ‘sans’ is repeated four
times for greater poetic effect.
Rhythm:
A quick scansion reveals that the poem has no traditional metre which is followed
throughout the poem. However, it is interesting to note that a single line contains
about 10 to 11 syllables with the exception of the first line. We also see a stressed and
unstressed syllable alternation throughout the poem, but the feet don’t form a uniform
metre in the dialogue.
Figures of speech:
The dialogue is full of figures of speech as one would expect. Some of them are
enlisted as under with their most prominent examples.
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Metaphor: The dialogue starts with the phrase ‘All the world’s a stage’ which is a
widely acclaimed example of a metaphor where this world is compared to a stage and
the people are to actors.
Antithesis: In the third line we see the words ‘exits’ and ‘entrances’ in the same line
forming an example of antithesis.
Simile: ‘Creeping like snail’, ‘sighing like a furnace’ and ‘bearded like a pard’ are the
examples of simile in the text of the dialogue.
This is a famous and oft quoted line and has many implications. Shakespeare is
comparing the world to a stage which must’ve naturally appealed to him since he was
a playwright. The idea of the world as a stage was also around before Shakespeare and
was made popular by Richard Edwardes. He finds a similarity between the world and
the stage as in the stage is full of action just like the world.
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“All men and women are merely players.”
Shakespeare says that all men and women are actors on the stage of the world in the
play of life. The words ‘merely’ tells us that he regards a singular human life very
small and inconsequential in the grand expanse of the world. It also alludes to the
writer’s belief in some kind of world order, maybe nature or nature’s god, before
which we are trivial beings. We observe a feeling of vanity and existential crisis in the
character’s voice.
The speaker is talking about life and death and how they are inevitable. What we
should pay attention to here is the plural form of the words ‘exits’ and ‘entrances.’
The speaker isn’t talking only about life and death. He is talking about human
relationships as well. People come and go in our lives, relations are made, broken and
re-established. Further what is truly noteworthy is that the speaker puts exits before
entrances, which gives off the somber mood of character and the scene in general.
“And one man in his time plays many parts. His acts being seven ages.”
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The first part of this line says that a man plays many parts throughout his lifetime. The
word ‘parts’ is not only restricted to the ages, but has a broader connotation. It means
the different roles we play in life as a child, a parent, a sibling, a spouse, etc. The
latter part of the line says that a person plays these several parts stretched over seven
acts which are seven different ages. This is again a Play analogy. We see a clever
association between plays and life in this introductory part of the dialogue.
THE AGES:
The Seven stages of a man’s life according to Shakespeare are as follows:
The first stage of life is birth. All life begins with birth. When a child is born, it is
completely oblivious to the cares of the world. Infants don’t do much; they are
dependent on their mother and caretakers. So, we see that the speaker establishes the
first stage of life as the stage of dependency. Infants have no other way of calling out
other than their cry. Also, they cannot eat and are dependent on their mother’s milk.
They often vomit.
The infant grows into a child. He no longer needs the complete attention of his parents
and custodians and they send him to school to educate him in the ways of the world.
But the infant who has seen only love and adoration from his immediate environment
looks reluctantly towards this change. He whines and cries and throws tantrums to
avoid separation from his parents. The parents, however know what is best for their
ward and they force him to go to school. They dress him in the school uniform and
give him a satchel and make him ready for school. The little child however is
unwilling to go to school.
This description of the second stage of a person’s life is again a generalisation by the
writer as even in his time it was only a select few who could afford education. Most of
the children were either home-schooled or learned their way about the world from
observation.
Next, the educated youth is in the height of teenage when adolescence sets in. The
erstwhile child now weaves the dreams of love. He witnesses new changes in his mind
and body and feels differently than he’s done before. His heart is set on love and he
pines for his mistress. He writes and sings sad ballads for his mistress, exalting her
beauty and form. For the lover the world is all roses and cherry blossom; he sees
beauty in every aspect of life. This is the period in a person’s life when he witnesses
beauty and the feeling of amorous love and infatuation.
We should also try not to forget here that the male lead of the play Orlando is in the
third age of his life. We can see it from the fact that he is deeply in love with Rosalind
who is the protagonist of the play, but is unsuccessful in expressing his love for her.
The next age is that of a young soldier. The tender lover slowly transforms into a
soldier — a soldier in the battlefield of life. Soldiers take up strange oaths of
allegiance and honour and live by them. The speaker says that a soldier is bearded like
a Panther. He is courageous, and full of vigour with a never-back-down kind of
attitude. They zealously protect their honour and don’t hesitate to quarrel in proving
their point.
At this stage of life, honour and reputation are very valuable to them and they will
ever prefer death to guard their reputation. Thus, this age is marked with courage and
vigour and is the stage of life when a youth becomes a man.
Then the soldier, as he goes into middle-age, is seen as a judge passing on judgement
and protecting the people with law and order. This again is a generalisation; the
professions chosen by Shakespeare in the dialogue are not necessarily how people
lived their life, nor is it any indicator that the same order is followed in the
professions.
The justice is shown as round-bellied, well-to-do man; eating chicken which the
speaker humorously says is lined in his belly in the form of fat. His eyes are severe
and his beard is of a formal cut, which suggests his stern nature. He is full of wisdom
and modern examples where they are relevant; he carries about his part imparting
knowledge and carrying out the duty of justice.
The sixth age, according to the speaker is the entry of the middle-aged man into
senescence. The person progressively becomes lean and frail. He looks like an old
fool (pantaloon) in his ragged slippers (slippered). The old age comes with a gradual
weakening of the senses. An old man is often seen wearing corrective glasses and
pouch on their side to carry their items.
The youthful sinewy frame of the soldier now reduces to the lean and bony stature of
the old man. The speaker makes a humorous comment that the person’s shrunken
bottom saves a wide space for his equally shrunken legs in his hose. That is just
another way to say that the person becomes slim and lank. The once roaring and
manly voice of the soldier and the authoritative voice of the justice reduces in pitch
and volume, becoming something akin to child-like in the old man. His voice whistles
as he talks. We see the effect of time and age upon a person.
The last of the ages is dotage leading into the finality of death. The speaker calls it the
‘last scene of all’ in the play of the person’s life on the stage of the world. We see a
continuation of the metaphor developed in the former lines of the dialogue in this final
section. Shakespeare calls this journey of a person through the seven ages a strange
and eventful history. He describes this final stage of life as a second childishness
where the person enters into oblivion. Dotage causes a loss of all senses and the
person is left with nothing. We see a return to dependency in this stage of life.
The final line is characteristic as it represents the negative aspect of life and can be
related to biblical references. It is argued that Shakespeare chose the seven stages of
life to mimic the biblical reference to the seven deadly sins, and in that respect the
‘sans everything’ phase can be regarded as an experience of hellish life. Thus, from
Jacques’ soliloquy we witness a journey from infancy to infirmity through the seven
ages of man.