I

n As You Like It, Jaques’s ‘seven ages of man’ speech offers a model of human  development (albeit one aimed at elite European men) that was popular in Shakespeare’s day. The first age, infancy, is followed by the ‘whining schoolboy’ who creeps ‘like a snail / Unwillingly to school’.

The age of childhood is followed by the lover, soldier, judge, and pantaloon (the old man stock figure from Italian comedy). Then Jaques describes the seventh and last age, which is notoriously ‘sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything’. In other words, a stage of life characterised by a total loss of all those things we might consider life-affirming capabilities.

The ‘ages of man’ scheme was one way early modern Europeans understood ageing and the life course, with its dominant narrative of growth and decline. As Jaques also says: ‘And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, / And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot’.

We might want to pause, though, to consider Jaques’s correlation of school days  exclusively with childhood. Is the adage true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? The saying goes back to at least the 16^th century. In The Book of Husbandry (1534), John Fitzherbert offers this advice to the shepherd:

… he must teach his dog to bark when he would have him, to run when he would have him, and to leave running when he would have him … The dog must learn it when he is a whelp … for it is hard to make an old dog to stoop’.

In this context, ‘stoop’ could mean to bend, lower itself, or submit to its owner’s authority. Whatever the specific meaning, the passage leans into the idea that it’s hard for a dog to change its habits or to learn something new once it’s no longer a pup.

But is this true? Shakespeare’s works offer a more nuanced view of ageing and learning than Jaques’s ages might suggest. Throughout the plays, characters express varied perspectives on maturity and the capacity to learn.

In King Lear, the loyal servant Kent says at forty-eight years old he is ‘Not so young, sir, to love a woman for singing, nor so old to dote on her for anything’. He also says, ‘I am too old to learn’. But we should understand this line not as a statement of fact but an attempt to ward off his punishment in the stocks.

In The Merchant of Venice, the youthful Portia acknowledges she is ‘not yet so old’  that she can still learn. The implication, of course, is that age would eventually limit her capacity to acquire new knowledge.

But Shakespeare doesn’t present later life as merely loss or decline. In As You Like It, the elderly servant Adam challenges these assumptions when he tells young Orlando: ‘Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty’. While not explicitly about learning, Adam’s statement suggests that human capabilities are not always determined by chronological age.

Poignantly in King Lear, the Fool urges Lear to ‘Learn more than thou trowest’—that is, to continue to strive knowing more than he already believes. Indeed, throughout the play Lear comes to understand several hard-earned wisdoms: the true nature of his elder daughters, the vulnerability of his subjects, and, ultimately, what he values most in the world—his relationship with his youngest daughter Cordelia.

These rich perspectives on lifelong learning resonate with many adults who go back to school.

Peggy Flint undertook the MA in Shakespeare’s Studies, a collaboration with King’s College London, at the Globe in 2020-21. She entered the programme following the death of her husband.

‘My grief was profound’, Peggy said at the time. Pursuing an MA gave her a renewed sense of purpose and allowed her to finally devote time to a long-cherished passion.

Another former MA student, Laura McCreddie-Doak, was a freelance writer covering the luxury watch and jewellery industry while she pursued the MA in Shakespeare’s Studies.

Laura was accepted to the MA more than twenty years ago but decided to pursue journalism instead. Why go back after such a long period of time? It ‘always felt like unfinished business’, Laura acknowledged.

A sense of ‘unfinished business’ captures what many adults feel when it comes to a desire to return to the classroom.

We might be encouraged by Antipholus of Syracuse’s comment in The Comedy of Errors—that ‘there’s a time for all things’. So despite what Jaques says, learning does not only belong to the ‘whining schoolboy’ but to later ages, too.

FINIS.

In spring 2026, the Globe will launch a new 10-week evening course for lifelong learners: Shakespeare and the Stages of Life. Meeting once a week for two hours, the course invites participants to explore Shakespeare’s plays through the lens of the arc of human experience from cradle to grave. Enrolment opens on our website this summer – please check back for details.

Our MA in Shakespeare Studies is a unique collaboration with King’s College London, and offers a truly unparalleled experience for students of Shakespeare. Read the ten reasons why our MA course is so special or discover more and how to apply.

Have a question or would like to discuss our MA further? Email our Higher Education team and we’ll be happy to help.