Female Gender Roles In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

In one of Plato’s most esteemed works, The Republic, Plato forms an ideal city called the Kallipolis with citizens and their respective roles within the city. While creating this “City of Words” Plato was faced with a dilemma, what roles would the women of the city be assigned? This paper argues that women were in fact granted a place in society that provided them with equality in the Kallipolis, and that this equality was achieved through their positioning within the guardian class. Furthermore, this equality was affirmed through their position within the ruling class. During the construction of the “City of Words” Plato tells the story of the Myth of the Metals near the end of Book 3. This story offers a solution to the controversy that

The Allegory of the Cave illustrated the effects of education on the human soul without criticizing female gender roles. Through the stages of the cave, the three stages of the metals are implemented and the philosopher kings who are meant to be rulers and achieve the Form of the Good according to Plato. The allegory started with a group of prisoners who have lived in this cave for awhile. They are facing a wall while shackled to rocks, behind them is a fire and behind this fire were statues that were being moved around by people. On the walls the prisoners were facing they see the shadows of trees, women, and horses and make stories based on the shadows they deemed as real. These prisoners represent the working or producing class of the Kallipolos. A random prisoner was freed from the bonds and was turned to look at the fire, after a momentary confusion the prisoner sees the fire and the statues. The prisoner noticed things that were more real than the shadows which always had been taken to be reality, how the fire and statues come together to make the shadows which are copies of the real things. Next, this prisoner was dragged out the cave to the world outside and after his/her, eyes adjusted the prisoner saw the shadows, reflections and then noticing the trees, flowers and houses. The prisoner realizes how the statues are only copies of the real things outside the cave. This stage in the prisoner’s journey was considered to be the auxiliary class. The prisoner has caught his/her first glimpse of the Forms. Finally, when the prisoner’s eyes fully adjusted to the light he/she looked up and understood that the sun was the cause of everything around him/her, the colors and life he/she looked upon. The sun represents the Form of the Good. This was the final stage of the metals and this was the ruling class (517b-519b). These