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Shakespeare's soliloquy revisited
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
He started out normally, if a little different; always taking things apart and putting them back together in “unusual” ways. His speech developed normally and along with it an affinity for big words. This was considered cute by the adults in the neighborhood until they realized he was using them properly, then it became strange. His parents had his eyes checked several time for problems because he would describe colors within colors that changed with the light. They finally decided he was making it up and began to ignore it. He learned his numbers and alphabet early and loved addition. At about six, he developed a habit that was thought of in the area as cute; when he would go to the store with his mother he would race the cash register during checkout and would tell the checker the total before the cash register would display it. These were mechanical cash registers common in the late fifties and early sixties but still it amused the adults.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school.
He started school at seven in the first grade. He did well at first, but only for the first few months. He became bored easily and didn’t like waiting for the other students to catch up. The real problems started however when they noticed him writing with both hands and amusing himself when he got bored by writing mirror imaged. He was stubborn and didn’t like them trying to make him use only his right hand. He developed the annoying habit of retaliating to being made to use only his right hand by writing and talking backwards. This convinced him that Nuns had no sense of humor and school wasn’t to be enjoyed.
Initially they thought he might be autistic and was tested numerous times throughout his early school years. He enjoyed the tests and saw them as a game; challenging and stimulating and an escape from the boredom of repetitious schoolwork. It was finally dismissed as an explanation and he was labeled a prodigy. This new label brought with it the new problems of other people’s expectations and a requirement to be better than the other kids. He often wondered what it would be like to be just a “normal kid” and why he couldn’t just be like the others.
In the fourth grade his teacher at the time came up with what his mother thought was a wonderful idea and he was given a scholastic placement test to see where he would place intellectually. With the results of the test and its interpretation by his teacher his mother decided he should enter college early. This was probably instigated as much by news accounts of a fourteen year old starting college as any consideration of what was best for him. He was to be a trophy prodigy.
His father was dead set against the idea of cutting his childhood short in this fashion and he was sent to boarding school during this time as a problem child. When he returned, his parents had separated.
And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow.
Puberty brought with it an entirely new set of problems in his life. Emotions became more intense as his hormones began to change his young body. He became somewhat of an outcast among his friends as his interests jumped from one girl to the next. It wasn’t that he got bored with them as much as they became uncomfortable with him when they realized how easily he could accurately read them. Some thought he could read minds; this amused him in a strange sort of way.
During this period his emotions became more of a disadvantage than he considered them to be worth and he learned to turn them off- completely. He felt nothing and showed nothing; life could regain normalcy.
Then a soldier.Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
War was traumatic for him and will not be written about with any depth here except that his habit of seeking out the area bully and challenging him followed him. In other occupation and travels he observed a form of bullying and injustice that direct confrontation couldn’t challenge. His emotions returned with a vengeance and when they settled he had a new resolve. He became the champion of causes using the tools available, skills and abilities he had developed up to this point.
And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.
He entered business and did well, easily climbing the corporate ladder. He married (twice) and had children, one of which was like him and carried his name. He learned to keep hidden his differences and make use of the abilities as he taught his son how to cope and survive.
The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav'd,
He continues to work, writes and pursues his art. He finds more time for deep thought and analysis. He finds time for introspection and evaluation; and teaching.
And the play, that is life, continues.
a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.
Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
