Reflection of the Ages of Man.

Previously, our class has learnt about the theory ages of man by William Shakespeare in As You Like It. Then we also have gone through the other literally works that work on the theory of the stages of man. For instance, Oedipus The King by Sophocles, the Four Ages of Man by W.B. Yeats and Life’s Brief Candle by William Shakespeare. As I look at these riddle and poems, I realized that there are some differences among of them, which are unique and require the readers to think creatively and critically about the issue that arises in their writing. Let me take an example an example from the riddle. “What goes on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at evening?” Then, Oedipus correctly answered, “Man.” That means as a baby, he crawls on all fours, then as a man he walks erect, then as an old man, he uses a cane. Nevertheless, this riddle only gives us a general statement about the ages of man since ‘two at noon” means either you are a teenager or an adult, which is not really specific. Besides that, “three at evening” which is referred to an old man is really cannot been accepted since not all people will be the old man in their lives. This is because death as we all know is beyond of our expectation. Even the young man can die before he reaches his old age. Therefore, not all human being will have their own final stage for being the old man in their lives, as death does not discriminate anybody and it never look at your age before it takes away your life. Therefore, this riddle cannot been accepted in order to describe about the ages of man since based on this riddle a person must follow all these three stages to be a man, which starts from the baby until the old man’s stage. As a result, this riddle is totally different from The Four Ages of Man by W.B. Yeats. This is because according to the poet, there are four stages of man, which is started with a toddler, then a teenager, followed by an adult and lastly is the stage where someone is struggle from death and this stage is not purposely refer to the old man like in the riddle by Oedipus. Nevertheless, we always perceive that only when we are old then we will die. This is our common perception in our society about death that we cannot avoid from it. On the other hand, in Life’s Brief Candle by William Shakespeare, the poet imagines that humans’ lives are like a play and the human beings are the actors for the play. According to this poem, the humans’ lives will begin when the play is been started and in contrast, their lives will reach the end when the play is finished since they are the actors of the play. In my opinion, The Four Ages of Man by W.B. Yeats is the best described for the theory of stages of man. This is because even the scientists also have categorized the stages of man into four like what W.B. Yeats has stated in his poem. As we all know, every human being in this world will be dead soon but we just do not know when the time will come. Thus, when someone dies, he has to experience for being alive like as a toddler, an adult or even as the old man. Furthermore, death does not discriminate even to a newborn baby. Thus, I suggest that every human being will go through all these four stages as recommended by W.B. Yeats unless he is been dead at the early of the stages of man like when he is at the young age. However, live and death are like a cycle, which is never ending process and everyone who is been dead will be replaced with someone who is just borne as a baby. Then, the baby will go through all the four stages. In a nutshell, The Four Ages of Man is the best described for the theory of the stages of a man in this world.