for His Shrunk Shank and His Big Manly Voice Turning Again Toward Childish Treble

According to William Shakespeare's character Jaques in As Yous Similar It men go through seven stages in their lives:

1. Infancy
2. Schoolboy
3. Teenager
4. Swain
5. Middle aged
6. Old aged
7. Dotage & death

The '7 Ages of Man', in detail

In  Act 2 Scene 7 of As You Like It, Jaques speaks his 'Ages of man' monologue (better known past most as the 'All the world's a stage' speech).

In this monologue Jaques starts by explaining that "All the globe's a stage, And all the men and women merely players", so goes on to describe these seven stages of life that men get through in some detail:

Phase i, Infancy:

A helpless baby, but crying and throwing upward.

"At showtime the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse'south artillery."

Phase 2, Schoolboy:

This is where his formal teaching starts but he is not entirely happy with school. His mother is ambitious for him and has done his face up thoroughly before sending him off to school simply he goes very slowly and reluctantly.

"the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping similar a snail
Unwillingly to school."

Stage 3, Teenager:

He's grown into his late teens and his main involvement is girls. He's likely to brand a bit of a fool of himself with them. He is sentimental, sighing and writing poems to girls, making himself a scrap ridiculous.

"the lover,
Sighing similar furnace, with a woeful ballad
Fabricated to his mistress' eyebrow."

Phase 4, Young man:

He's a bold and fearless soldier – passionate in the causes he's prepared to fight for and quickly springs into action. He works on developing his reputation and takes risks to that end.

"a soldier,
Full of foreign oaths, and bearded similar the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the chimera reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth."

Phase 5, Centre-anile:

He regards himself every bit wise and experienced and doesn't heed sharing his views and ideas with anyone and likes making speeches. He's made a name for himself and is prosperous and respected. As a effect of his success, he'southward become vain. He enjoys the finer things in life, like good food.

"the justice,
In fair circular belly, with practiced capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and bristles of formal cutting,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances"

Stage half-dozen, One-time human being:

He is old and aught like his onetime self – physically or mentally. He looks and behaves similar an onetime man, dresses similar one and he has a thin piping voice now. His influence slips abroad.

the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,

"With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a globe also broad
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly vocalization,
Turning once again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound"

Stage 7, Dotage and death:

He loses his mind in senility. His hair and teeth fall out and his sight goes. So he loses everything as he sinks into the oblivion of expiry.

second childishness and mere oblivion,

"Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

Shakespeare did not invent the idea of the stages of life: philosophers have been addressing it for millennia. Aristotle had 4 ages of man and they were extended to seven in the middle ages where philosophical and religious lists were usually in sevens – the seven deadly sins, the seven sacraments, the 7 heavenly virtues, and then on.

By the fourth dimension the Elizabethan age arrived, it was a most familiar idea, and Shakespeare'southward audience would immediately have recognised the concept of the vii ages of man.

Ages of Man Monologue in Full

Below is the consummate 'ages of homo' monologue from As Yous Similar It – one of Shakespeare's most famous and well liked passages:

'All the earth's a phase,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And i human in his fourth dimension plays many parts,
His acts being vii ages. At offset the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse'south arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning confront, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school. And so the lover,
Sighing similar furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. And then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in award, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And and then, the justice,
In fair circular belly, with a adept capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And and then he plays his office. The sixth historic period shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With glasses on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly vocalism,
Turning again toward kittenish treble, pipes
And whistles in his audio. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans sense of taste, sans everything.'

The idea of the globe as a stage was not original simply information technology was a metaphor Shakespeare appreciated, beingness an actor, stage writer and theatre proprietor. He uses information technology ofttimes and, of grade, it fits in nicely with the metaphor of human life every bit a play with actors. Another of Shakespeare's favourite soliloquies is the 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow' passage where Macbeth compares his life to that of a short, emotional operation by an actor on a phase (one of many famous Macbeth quotes):

'A walking shadow, a poor histrion
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
So is heard no more than: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of audio and fury,
Signifying zilch.'

The Seven Ages Of Man Prototype

Images of each of the vii ages of man, based on Jaque'south 'Ages of man' monologue and taken from photos of stained glass windows in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre

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Source: https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/seven-ages-of-man/

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