According to William Shakespeares character Jaques in As You Like It, men go through seven stages in their lives). These stages are:
- Infancy: A helpless baby, just crying and throwing up.
- Schoolboy: A young child who is reluctant to leave home and go to school.
- Teenager: A young adult who is emotional and loves to write poetry.
- Young man: A soldier who is full of strange oaths and seeking reputation.
- Middle-aged: A wise judge who is prosperous and respected.
- Old-aged: A weak old man who is thin and dependent on others for care.
- Dotage and death: The final stage where a man becomes like a child again and experiences "second innocence, and mere oblivion."
It is worth noting that Shakespeare did not invent the idea of the stages of life, as philosophers have been addressing it for millennia. Aristotle had four ages of man, and they were extended to seven in the Middle Ages where philosophical and religious lists were usually in sevens.
