Shakespeare’s seven ages of man do not always paint the prettiest picture of the human condition: from “mewling and puking” through “fair round belly,” and on to “second childishness.” Shakespeare tells us that “one man in his time plays many parts.” But what interests me is how this seven-part actor tells his time.
While Shakespeare has Brutus and Cassius discussing the striking of an anachronistic clock in Julius Caesar, he is disappointingly silent when it comes to his favored timepieces. So, in an effort to fill this chasm in Shakespearean scholarship, and to be in time for the season of giving and receiving gifts, I offer a few suggestions:
