Shakespeare, through the character of Jaques in ‘As You Like It’, suggested that men - and it was ‘men’ since he didn’t worry too much about the seven ages of those of the opposite sex - went through seven stages in their life journey. Here’s an edited version…
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,
And then the justice In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd, The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
So just to recap: puking infant, whining schoolboy, hopeful lover, soldier, justice, old man and senile old man.
Things have moved on a bit since Shakespeare’s time. Plenty of mewling and puking infants still, and also reluctant schoolboys. Young lovers haven’t changed much either in all their hopeful folly.
But from then on Will’s paradigm becomes outdated.
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