of the justice, who makes a good living, as his
‘‘round belly’’ filled with capon attests. A capon
(castrated chicken) is a tender delicacy, used
often to bribe local magistrates, so the sugges-
tion is the justice is not always honest in his
dealings. The justice’s appearance, however,
implies that he acts the part, with his formal
beard and serious expression. He knows the
law, or at least he has memorized it, and is
often heard to spout many important sayings,
although they might be trite. The justice plays his
part by spouting platitudes.
Pantaloon: Lines 18–24
The sixth age gets the most description, nearly
six lines. The Pantaloon is a foolish old man. He
is named after a stock character incommedia
dell’arte, a form of Italian comedy. In this com-
edy, the pantaloon is old but still athletic. He is
miserly, busily hoarding his coins and fearful
that someone will try to rob him. He is easily
fooled. The description fits characterizations in
Italian comedy. However, here, he is older: He
wears slippers, because he travels outside his
house infrequently. The pantaloon stays home
and guards his savings. His lean look fits with the
pouch at his side, in which he carries his money.
He watches every coin, not spending extra on
food, which accounts for his thin build. His eye-
sight is failing now and he wears glasses. The
pantaloon has saved the stockings of his youth
and still wears them, another sign of his penny-
pinching, but now his old stockings are too wide
for his shrunken calves, which have lost muscle
tone. Once he had a strong masculine voice, but
now it has child-like weakness. His money does
not spare him from the ravages of time.
Old Man: Lines 24–27
In the final age, man approaches death. He is like
an infant again. He is senile now and requires
care. He has lost his teeth and his eyesight. He
can no longer taste food. The old man has lost
everything he once had. He has reverted to
infancy, with no control over his bodily func-
tions and without speech.
Themes
Aging
The picture of aging that Shakespeare creates in
‘‘Seven Ages of Man’’ is one that many people
fear. As man ages, his physical appearance
changes. The fat and muscle that create mass in
his calves begin to thin, and his stockings hang
on his legs. He wears glasses, and his voice wav-
ers. As a justice, he is round and well-fed, but
when he is older, he is an object of derision. In
the final stage of life, he can only wish for death
to release him from ever increasing deficits and
infirmity.Anti-pastoralism
Pastoral refers to art that contains rural ele-
ments, such as shepherds, flocks of sheep, and
countryside scenes. Pastoral elements were
often used in poetry and drama to mask social,
religious, or political criticism.As You Like Itis
a pastoral comedy, in which the two female
leads, Rosalind and Celia, flee the urban court
for the safety of the forest. Using the pastoral
elements in an unusual way, Shakespeare has
almost every character write poetry, except the
two shepherds, who might have been expected
to write poetry. Instead of spending their time
on poetry, the shepherds actually tend to their
sheep. In the ‘‘Seven Ages of Man’’ speech, the
speaker ignores an important pastoral conven-
tion: Time never advances. In the pastoral, the
beauty and serenity of nature are static and
eclipse the realities of temporal progression. In
the idealized pastoral world, time stops at a
moment of youthful perfection, and love lasts
forever. Thus, the typical pastoral romantic
comedy idealizes the human condition. ‘‘Seven
Ages of Man’’ subverts this convention by
describing the fact that people age in a decid-
edly unromantic and relentless way.Egalitarianism
Nature in the real material world is egalitarian in
function. In nature, all animate beings are born
and all die. All vital newborns begin in exactly
the same way, crying and spitting up. As each
person ages, that person is subject to the physical
changes aging causes. Signs of aging afflict peo-
ple over time and universally. If the aging man
lives long enough, he becomes as helpless as an
infant. This ‘‘second childishness’’ leaves the old
man infirm and at the mercy of a caretaker.
Although not everyone reaches the great age
Shakespeare depicts as the final stage, the ending
he describes is universal among those who do.
‘‘Seven Ages of Man’’ presents the basic human
condition to which all people are subject. It is an
egalitarian view of the human lifespan.Seven Ages of Man