Grunt and Sigh

 

         

Grunt and Sigh

 Jaques in Shakespeare’s play, ‘As You Like It,’ details the seven ages of man. Since the play was written five hundred years ago, women play only a peripheral part in his monologue, appearing as the nurse to the (boy) child.

The stages he mentions are Infant, Schoolboy, Lover, Soldier, Justice, Pantaloon (old man) and Second childishness.

Nowhere does he mention the ‘Grunt and Sigh’ age of mankind, the time of life when rising from a seated position, or lifting a heavy burden, or pulling weeds, can only be accomplished successfully and readily when accompanied by a ‘grunt.’ Neither does he give time and space to the ‘sigh’ that so often follows the ‘grunt,’ when tired limbs are dropped onto a comfortable surface for rest and possibly a cup of tea.

Grunting and sighing creep up on slippered feet until they become a natural part of mankind’s existence. Too late does the executor realise that the soundtrack to life is now a series of grunts and sighs, varying in volume and expression according to the effort expended.

Do tennis players realise how much their grunts irritate onlookers? Are their grunts followed by sighs of satisfaction, or disappointment, or are the sighs simply an expulsion of breath on the wings of a curse or a prayer?

Grunt and sigh – what would Shakespeare have made of it?