Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

In the movie Finding Nemo, Nemo learns to understand that believing in ourselves can overcome any condition. This is shown throughout Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. Marlin, had his son taken away by a scuba diver, this is where the monomyth takes place. It is Marlins call to adventure to find his son. The refusal of the call as seen in the monomyth, is exemplified through Marlins fear of the deep sea. While defying his fear, he runs into his supernatural aid whom is Dory. Dory acts as a supernatural aid through keeping Marlin calm, cool, and collected. Throughout the long hard journey, Marlin finds his goddess is a nice and helpful seagull. The seagull flies him and Dory to the dentist office where Nemo is waiting on his father to rescue him. The similarities between finding Nemo and the different stages accurately relate to Joseph Campbell’s monomyth. Here are some ways that Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and the film Finding Nemo relate.

In Plato’s Republic, ‘Plato describes through the Allegory of the Cave, a group of people have been raised in a cave chained and positioned in such a way their vision is focused forward. Before them are shadows of which are puppets reflected by the fire behind them. The sounds and movements of the shadows are their sense of reality. Their world view is limited by their glimpse of their perceived reality (Sayre, 2013).

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, Plato tells a story of a group of prisoners living in a cave. The prisoners have lived in the cave since birth, never once seeing the light. These prisoners are chained to a wall, being able to see nothing but the the wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and prisoners, is a walkway.

The definition of ambition describes a human beings earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction. In William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Macbeth is more ambitious than anyone else in the play due to his utmost drive to get to the throne, the pressure trying to prove Lady Macbeth to become the man that she desires, and the desire of Macbeth to kill an entire line of the Macduff family. The first indication of Macbeth being more ambitious than all of the other characters is, his intense drive to become the King of Scotland.

Soon enough this prisoner’s eyes begin to adjust to this strange new environment and begins to see the reflections in water and the trees and people that surround him. Sadly, after experiencing this new world, Socrates begins to explain what happens when this finally free man is sent back to the dark depths from which he’d been imprisoned. This prisoner is once again dragged down into the darkness of the cave, but as he’s forced back in his eyes have become accustomed to the brightness of the sun, he feels blind in the darkness of his old “home”. His blindness implies to the rest of his fellow prisoners that the world where he was sent to did more harm than good, and for him to tell them any different would cause them to shun him and decide they never want to leave the cave as it seems safer to stay there than to face the unknown. As mentioned, the story of “The Allegory of The Cave” begins with the description of a cave in which a group of prisoners are shackled to chairs that face only one of the walls.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, a narration of the life of Hester Prynne, her sin her love and her experience as an outcast and a mother. The tale that surrounds a young woman begins with her persecution of being found guilty of adultery. She, now the center of a grievous scandal, is condemned to live her life with the letter “A” branded on her clothes. Driven to the outskirts of Boston she desperately tries to live a life worthy of being a Puritan. Though her “A” was lavish, scarlet and different all she truly wanted was to prove herself as a woman of faith and honor, yet further stood out exacerbating who she was and what she had done.

Plato illustrates the cave as “a cell down under the ground” filled with pitch darkness. Including, two people who never knew reality. Shackled to the chains onto a seat for the rest of their lives as they look at a wall of nothingness. Meanwhile, mesmerized while watching “the shadows of artefacts would constitute the only reality” these people

Plato aforesaid, “How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?” (Plato, 514a-515a). Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” attempts to explain that true enlightenment is only achieved when one is freed from the shackles of the mind and is truly able to comprehend the world around them. In the allegory, the prisoners were chained facing the cave wall, only to see and believe what was put before them. When one of the detainees was freed from his fetters, he was able to broaden his knowledge and assimilate that things may not always be, as they seem.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” he writes about prisoners that have been locked up in this cave for their whole lives and only know the world through shadows and sounds. Until one day a prisoner is freed from his chains. Once this man is freed from his chains he proceeds to exit the cave and experiences an unknown world he has never seen with his eyes. He realizes that his old life and those guesses about what the shadows and sounds were useless as now he can see the truth beyond the entrance of the cave. Once he has experienced enough of the outside world and it’s beauties he wants to inform his friends of the truth. He tells them that the world they lived in their whole life is a lie and that the truth is beyond the cave and into the unknown.

Once these people ascend, there curiosity has developed and I personally feel as if the prisoners would want to go to other humans. The prisoners know the people in the cave will have the right education to teach them the good and contemplation of justice, however what about the others out there who do not know what justice and good is. I think the prisoners would want to go search for themselves outside the caves and teach other the teachings created by Socrates. I felt as if Plato didn’t really give a sufficient amount of evidence to reason that the prisoners will not want to interact others. His argument was based off teachings and nothing else.

The Allegory of the Cave Plato, is recognized as one of the reputable and admired philosophers of his time and of all time. Dating back from ancient Greece, Plato and philosophers of the like, attempted to answer life’s deepest questions like “what is reality” and “where are we going.” Through deep thought and debate, these philosophers were able to formulate opinions and theories; opinions and theories that are still discussed in today’s modern society. One such example to discuss life and the truth is The Allegory of the Cave, a portion of one of Plato’s most famous works, The Republic. Through The Allegory of the Cave, Plato is able to explain the “The Forms” and knowledge in a context that people of ancient Greece were able to comprehend.

Plato argues that the shadows and noises associated, along with the games they create are the equivalent of the the five senses circumventing the people. He believes that the objects we see in the physical world are pale impressions of the true ‘Form’ of that object in the Realm of Forms. Plato asks us to imagine that one of the prisoners were to be set free. He would stand with some pain and become dazed and confused by the bright fire light, as one would after coming into contact with such a bright light like the sun, after being in the dark for so long. He would attempt to adjust to this new interpretation of the environment and would quickly realise that the shadows he saw on the walls were not the real objects themselves.

Humankind is filled with individuals testing each other and competing with one another to be the greatest, ignoring the reality of life. In the “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato justifies this by displaying a parable that serves as a metaphor for life. This parable teaches the reader how people wish to remain in their comfort zones and disregard the truth. It portrays the struggle of facing different realities that alter the illusion of one's life. In the story, he described a group of prisoners chained inside a dark cave; their only source of light comes from a burning fire that is used to create shadows. These shadows display images that the prisoners each interpret as the reality; however, once one is released and is struck by the light, he

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a story that is meant to reveal to the reader a “deeper truth.” Plato is notorious for using stories and characters to get his underlying message across, which in this case happens to be about the reality of truths. In most of his writings he uses Socrates, but in this instance he uses unnamed prisoners and an underground cave. The stories that I find fascinating or interesting leave a lasting impression on me rather than, heavy philosophical texts. Those can become tedious and boring very quickly, but clever playful stories are easier to follow along with and are easier to become invested in.

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.