CLASS 9 SEVEN AGES BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
SUMMARY This monologue compares the world with a stage in a theatre. Men and women are the actors or players on this stage. Actors playing roles have entrances and exits during a performance. Life also has its entrances and exits- people are born and die and pass in and out of our lives. Just as an actor plays a variety of roles in life, so too do men and women play different roles or pass through different stages or seven ages of their lives. The speech then focuses on the experience of men. However it is also possible to consider how the lives of women might be divided into seven ages or stages. The first role or stage is that of an infant or baby. The baby cries and whines before vomiting in the arms of his nurse. In the second stage of life man plays the role of a small boy or child . He holds a school bag, has a shiny face and walks as slowly as he can because he does not like school and is reluctant to leave home. The role of the...