Rites of passage are defined as ?a ritual or ceremony signifying an event in a person's life indicative of a transition from one stage to another, as from adolescence to adulthood,? but basically, rites of passage are about growing up. ?The Hero?s Journey,? the poem ?Young? by Anne Sexton, and ?The Seven Ages of Man,? by William Shakespeare all tie into the same idea of rites of passage. However, the three different readings are not exactly the same idea.
?Primitive man knew life as a cycle: birth and childhood (dependency), adulthood (independence), and death (a return to the eternal),? this is an excerpt from ?The Hero?s Journey.? It explains the cycle of life, birth and childhood, adulthood, and then finally death. The poem ?Young? shows the childhood segment of the cycle with the opening line, ?A thousand doors ago when I was a lonely kid.? William Shakespeare wrote the play ?As You Like It,? and from that came the ?Seven Ages of Man,? which describes childhood as well, ?At first the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse?s arms.
This was long thought to be the only portrait of W...
Signature of William Shakespeare from Page 3 of hi...
English: William Shakespeare statue in Lincoln Par...And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel, and shining morning face creeping like snail unwillingly to school.? However, ?The Hero?s Journey? also mentions that, ?On his quest, the initiate faces a series of Tests and ordeals which challenge him to the utmost, the initiate should really be a hero and prepare for the greater tasks ahead.? Neither ?Young? nor ?The Seven Ages of Man? illustrates the hero or heroine overcoming a greater task.
Rites of passage are not always as great as they seem. The girl in ?Young? is in between stages in life, ?And I, in my brand new body, which was not a women?s yet.? This girl is basically saying that she?s not finished...