Allegory Of The Cave Essay

An allegory is a kind of story in which writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface story. One of the most important allegories ever to be gifted to humankind is Allegory of the Cave. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is one of the most potent and pregnant of allegories that describe human condition in both its fallen and risen states. The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. It is also known as the Analogy of the Cave, Plato's Cave, or the Parable of the Cave. It is written as a fictional dialogue between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon at the beginning of Book VII of The Republic.

Though the man would then seem to be educated, Socrates takes the fantasy farther by dragging the freed prisoner out of the cave and into the actual world. At first, the man's eyes would dart from the brightness of the sun, and watch only shadows. Eventually, his eyes would allow him to look at reflections and finally at the actual objects themselves. He then realizes that the trees, flowers, houses, rocks, and animals he

The prisoner’s process of apprehending knowledge in The Allegory of the Cave is depicted as an arduous yet spiritual process. When the prisoner begins to acclimate into the world outside of the cave, he has to learn and observe in steps. The prisoner first starts with seeing shadows because it is what he is used to when he inhabited the cave. Then, he can see the reflections of objects. After, he is able to move on to watching the actual objects. The released prisoner eventually can observe the night sky. Finally, he can look at the sun and truly understand the importance and meaning of it (Plato.153). The prisoner cannot merely stop at looking at objects because he has to comprehend the new world and look deeper into its meanings. He is unable to physically contact the sky which causes a feeling of uncertainty and wonder. The sun represents the truth and realities of the world, which is why he was so blinded by it when he first was forced out of the cave. The knowledge that the prisoner now possesses gives him the strength to rise above the standing of those who are stilling living in the shadows. In order to fully grasp the knowledge of the world, an individual must slowly understand smaller concepts before attempting to gain the full truth.

On the surface of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” it is just a simple piece, but the main purpose of the piece is to explain people living in a world of face value and having individuals break free from the main idea to create a new sense of what the world is truly about. In here, Plato uses the writing style of allegory to encompass the use of imagery and symbolism to explain his purpose. He also uses very clever dialogue with constant repetition to represent a bigger idea about the philosophy with chained up people living in a cave of shadows.

Once the prisoner climbs out of the cave and is fully immersed in the sun's rays, Socrates continues to explain the prisoner's bewilderment, fear, and blindness to the objects he was now being told were real. The natural reaction of the prisoner would be to recognize shadows and reflections. After his eyes adjust to the sunlight, he begins to see items and people in their own existence, outside of the cave. When the prisoner looks up to the sky and looks into the Sun, and recognizes it as the cause of all that is around him—he has perceived the "Form of the Good!" This point in the passage marks the climax, as the prisoner, who not long ago was blind to the "Form of the Good" (as well as the basic Forms in general), now is aware of reality and truth. When this has occurred, the ultimate stage of thought has been achieved, and that is

The critical idea is that the prisoners in the cave have no idea on the reality, and all they see is a shadow representation of it. The foundation of the allegory lies on Plato’s view and belief that there is unseen truths and reality lying underneath the apparent surface of things, and only the most determined and enlightened individuals can grasp. The individuals who grasp these invisible truths deserve to be rulers and leaders of the ordinary people. Being used to the confinement of the cave, the prisoners are quick to resist enlighten in the similar manner students resist education at first.

Imprisonment, while less influenced than the others is influenced nonetheless. It is shown when the prisoner who is freed. The prisoner is representing someone incarcerated being released after serving a sentence. They are shown a better way of living when released. They want to share his experience and wants to help show other prisoners a better way than going back to old habits. But the prisoners in the cave are so used to what they were taught to do and not do differently, it is all they know, different scares them. In the story Plato says that “don’t you think he would consider himself lucky because of the transformation that had happened and, by contrast, feel sorry for them.”. He’s saying that anyone else would just leave and not share their experience, but this prisoner did.

First what is perception and ignorance? Let us define perception as one’s view of life through rationalization of the external world and ignorance as an assumption without proof and contemplation. In the “Allegory of The Cave”, Plato uses Socrates to explain different types of people, one who sees the physical realm accepting ideas as they form and one who lives in knowledge realm by questioning those ideas. People of the knowledge realm are obligated to helps those in the physical realm by removing what Socrates refer to as ignorance through questioning. This is shown as prisoners of the cave look to the walls as their perception of their world which relates to people’s limited perception of the world such as people who grown up religious deny anything outside of God, in addition, people in higher state of perception are obligated to help those in lower states; this relates to real world as people seek mentors for advice.

Plato’s allegory of the cave, located in Book VII of The Republic is one of the most famous allegories in which he has created. This simile touches base on a number of philosophical ideas which Plato developed over the progression of The Republic (Plato, G.M.A Grube, 1993), the most noticeable being the dividing line. The dividing line is the point between the world of ideas where we live and the world of the forms which is in the heavens. This allegory of the cave helps people understand the theory on which philosophy is based. It is also in this Book where the education of the guardians is outlined.

The second stage of the Allegory of the Cave consists of the process leading up to enlightenment. Plato represents the difficulties of leaving a comfortable reality where you are content with your own ideas by comparing it to the harshness of a flickering flame. The bright light of the fire that you are newly being exposed to after being held in the dark for so long can be painful, and hard to cope with or understand. The journey from ignorance to a better understanding can be confusing. As humans, we naturally don’t want to be forced to question our own ideas and the things we know to be true, but it is this uncomfortable, driving force that can lead us out of our own contentment and onto the path of better understanding. Plato so eloquently describes this challenging journey by comparing it to that of a prisoner being forced to visually take in all of this new information that he had not previously been exposed to. It takes a great deal of strength to be able to challenge the world around you and develop your own ideas, rather than taking everything around you in on a surface value.

In his allegory of the cave, Plato describes a scenario in which chained-up prisoners in a cave understand the reality of their world by observing the shadows on a cave wall. Unable to turn around, what seems to be reality are but cast shadows of puppets meant to deceive the prisoners. In the allegory, a prisoner is released from his chains and allowed to leave the cave. On his way out, he sees the fire, he sees the puppets, and then he sees the sun. Blinded by the sunlight, he could only stare down to view the shadows cast onto the floor. He gradually looks up to see the reflections of objects and people in the water and then the objects and people themselves. Angered and aware of reality, the freed prisoner begins to understand illusion

In Socrates’ mind education is not simply an information exchange; rather it is a painful experience, since all that one had previously believed is typically wrong. This painful experience can be seen as the “philosopher” turns around and stares into the light and eventually learning that everything he had experienced in life were just shadows.

Aristotelian Analysis of “The Allegory of the Cave” In “The Allegory of the Cave”, Plato is demonstrating his theory about people’s mindset concerning old and new ideas through. He does this through the use of an Allegory, sound logic, and emotion. He tells the story of a prison in a cave, and how one of the prisoners escapes his bonds and is “compelled suddenly to stand up… and look towards the light” (Plato p. 451) .

The Allegory of the Cavern aims to reveal the state in which, with regard to education or lack of it, our nature is found, that is, the state in which most men are found in relation to the knowledge of truth or ignorance. Thus, the prisoners represent the majority of humanity, slave and prisoner of their ignorance and unconscious of it, clinging to the customs, opinions, prejudices and false beliefs of always. These prisoners, like most men, believe they know and feel happy in their ignorance, but live in error, and take for real and real what they are but simple shadows of fabricated objects and echoes of voices. This aspect of the myth serves Plato to exemplify, through a language riddled with metaphors, the distinction between sensible world and

An allegory is a way to express generalizations about human existence using a story. In this case a portrait of a cave is used by Plato to demonstrate how humanity is trapped here and unable to move. They do not see and therefore have no knowledge of the sun or light (which I think is really symbolizing truth or true knowledge). All they know of their existence is the fire and puppet shadows that they see on the walls of the cave. I think the purpose of this allegory is to cause the reader to ponder these questions: Can people gain knowledge if they have never seen the light? Are we humans, those who have come out of the light and into darkness, or have we come out of the darkness into light (causing us to be dazzled, overwhelmed, and unable