General anesthesia progresses through four stages: I) analgesia, where the patient feels drowsy and numb; II) excitement, where the patient may feel agitated or delirious; III) surgical anesthesia, the target stage where painful stimuli do not elicit reflexes or autonomic responses; and IV) impending death, where breathing and circulation fail and death occurs if not treated. The ideal anesthetic agent allows quick progression from initial feelings of numbness to unconscious surgical anesthesia without inducing excitement or life-threatening paralysis.