Allegory Of The Cave Symbolism

696 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Plato's philosophical view of self

Allegory of the Cave is a story written and presented by Greek Philosopher Plato in his work, Republic. It is written as a dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates, narrated by the latter. Allegory of the Cave, Socrates says that the people live under the earth in a cavelike dwelling. Meaning that instead of them actually living on the earth, they have no connection to the outside world or reality, so instead it seems like they are living under the earth because they are so unaware of the world they live in. The theme of Allegory of the Cave is present through different elements by Plato and the theme is, Enlighten yourself so you don’t continue to slip into living in cave mentality because there is more to life that …show more content…

Every symbol in the text has a meaning. The cave is meant to represent the environment we’ve become acquainted with, chains that represent us from being hindered from freedoms and success, and the fire representing manufactured beliefs that we have conceived and told ourselves they were true. The prisoners, however, represent a person that we can relate to, and ‘Prisoner one’ is meant to represent a person who escaped the cave mentality. However, every symbol presented in the story has a meaning that allows for the reader to connect to it, and relate it to the world we live in today. Overall, they all contribute to the theme that is to enlighten oneself and to not be confined to a cave …show more content…

The events that happen, such as the freed prisoner returning to tell the others what life outside the cave is like, and he attempts to free them, but they refuse to believe him. The hostility shown by the prisoners is displayed when Socrates and Glaucon exchange dialogue: “SOCRATES: And if they can get hold of this person who takes it in hand to free them from their chains and to lead them up, and if they could kill him, will they not actually kill him? GLAUCON: They certainly will.” (Socrates 6) The hostility shown by the prisoners toward what is actually their reality is, represents us when we are faced with reality and truth. Plato is using them as an example to show what the cave mentality can truly do to

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Plato's Allegory Of The Cave By Mumford And Sons

    280 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and the song “The Cave,” by Mumford and Sons, they both treat the metaphor of a cave as a dark, bad, and evil antagonist that restricts you from seeing the truth and reaching your full potential. The cave can be seen as a permanent chain or an opportunity for change.

    Read More

  • Response To The Allegory Of The Cave

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, shows the contrast between sense experience and rationalism. The story explains that in the cave where some people have known nothing of the outside world and can only comprehend what they see based on what little they do know of their cave. The people have come to the conclusion what the shapes represent and what causes them and believe it to be correct and thus believe it as the reality of the world. However what they don’t know is that this is not the world and what they will soon find out is that the things they once saw with their eyes what they smelt, what they heard, what they felt were just shadows of real images and objects cast on the wall by fire. What this does is show that sense experience can be at fault because the one perceiving is at times is ignorant of the fact that they know nothing of the true reality of the world and its workings. One must be showed how things are in order to learn and thus no longer be ignorant but have now begun taking steps towards wisdom.

    Read More

  • Plato's Allegory of a Cave, Wachowski's Matrix, and Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time

    1562 Words  | 4 Pages

    Plato's Allegory of a Cave is a story about prisoners that are chained underground, who can not see anything except for shadows caste on a wall by a fire. The only thing that these prisoners can see is the shadows of people. Eventually, one of the prisoners breaks free of the chain and ventures out into the real world. In the real world the freed prisoner discovers that the shadows in the cave are created from light diverge off people. He recognizes there is a whole new world filled with light. The freed prisoner is very confused and blinded by the light so he decides to return to the cave. When the prisoner returns to the cave, he shares what he saw in the real world with the other prisoners. The remaining prisoners treat the freed prisoner like he is crazy and they tell the freed prisoner that the real world does not exist. The prisoners in the cave do not believe in the real world because the cave is all that they know exists.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Essay

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    The "Allegory of the cave "is broken down into four levels. The cave itself representing the tunnel we as humans have dug for ourselves away from the world of learning and knowledge to a world of safe answers where nothing is ever questioned . The cave represents the human's subconscious struggle to be safe and hide from the unknown. Beginning with Level one . The shadow watchers(the mystified )Illusion the figures and shadows reflection on the cave wall.This level is best described as such because the prisoners are not seeing what is real .They are seeing a copy or illusion of what is the real.They are seeing what they want to see.Level two The shadow casters .I believe the shadow casters area people who realize that the world is not as it

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Research Paper

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    American’s education system has been entering crisis mode for a long time. Throughout the past few years, the overwhelming question “Is college needed or worth it?” While it is an opinion, there are facts that back up each answer. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” mentions that the enlightened must help the unenlightened and further their knowledge. The problem with America today is that high school students are given the option of college and that makes for less enlightened people. While it is possible to learn in the work force or Army, college is a better option. Mary Daly wrote the article “Is It Still Worth Going to College?” which talks about the statistical value of attending. Michelle Adam wrote the article “Is College Worth It?” which mentions the struggle young people are going through to even get into college. Caroline Bird wrote the chapter “Where College Fails Us” in her book The Case Against College where she

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Quote Analysis

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Baldwin once said “It is only when a man is able, without bitterness or self-pity, to surrender a dream he has long cherished...that he is set free, that he has set himself free - for higher dreams, for greater privileges.” This quote displays the abundance of courage that is needed to leave everything an individual has in order to move forward. The bravest thing he can do once he has lost his identity, is to surrender who he was and open his mind to the possibility of wo he is going to be.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Allegory In The Lego Movie

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    My understanding of the cave allegory is someone who has lived his life in confinement; the only life he has ever known. Isolated from the outside world, everything that he experiences is a false reality. He sees things projected on the wall and he thinks they are real, when in fact, they are illusions. Once he is torn away from his environment, he is frightened of what he is now experiencing. As his senses awaken, he begins to see and experience the beauty all around him. He now realizes that this is how life is truly meant to live and he must go back and share his discovery with the others. However, they are not eager to leave their familiar surroundings. Upon returning to the cave, he has a hard time adjusting to his previous environment, He now knows all that he previously thought was

    Read More

  • Understanding Of Life In Plato's Story 'The Allegory Of The Cave'

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Plato 's story "The Allegory of the cave" men are stuck in this cave with their backs turned away from the light, until one day a man turns towards the light and learns for himself what the light is about. The man than explores and begins to educate himself on everything and anything, he then tries to take everything he has learned back down to the cave to get his fellow cave members to step out and learn what the light is all about. The metaphor that Plato 's places in this story is how the cave is represents the human mind and the light represents the understanding of life

    Read More

  • Plato's Allegory of the Cave: Perception through Education

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main concept behind Plato’s Allegory of the cave is to show how individuals perceive the world due to factors such as education. Throughout the video, Plato’s main consensus is strictly focused on the changes that an individual experiences after he or she is exposed to the philosophical reasoning behind a situation, rather than mere interpretations. This can be seen in the opening and middle portions of the video. The video starts with all three prisoners being tied up looking in a dark cave, simply seeing shadows and hearing echoes of ongoing events that are happening outside the cave. At this point, all three prisoner are completely naive to to what is happening, and they believe everything that they are told, because they have no reason to doubt the truth behind

    Read More

  • Plato And Francis Bacon And Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, Plato’s Allegory of the cave is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon and its main purpose, as Plato states is to, “show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened.”(Plato) The dialogue includes a group of prisoners who are captive in a cave and chained down, only with the ability to stare straight at a wall. This wall, with the help of a fire, walkway, and people carrying different artifacts and making sounds, create a shadow and false perception of what is real. This concept here is one of the fundamental issues that Plato brings up in the reading. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” (Plato). These prisoners, being stuck in this cave their entire life have no other option but to believe what they see on the wall to be true. If they were to experience a real representation of the outside world they would find it implausible and hard to understand. “When any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up a...

    Read More

  • Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a symbol for the contrasts between ideas and what we perceive as reality. The Allegory of the Cave is that we are chained to a wall. Behind us is another wall with figures walking across it, behind that wall is a pit of fire. The firelight casts shadows upon the wall in front of those chained to the wall. Because we are chained to the wall we believe the figures are what they represent. Plato says there times when one tries to break away from the wall but others encourage him to join back the wall as he experiences what the world truly is. Because we are chained to the wall we are afraid of the unknown. But breaking free could change the perception about the world and feel truly free. Plato also argues that we are the cave slaves. We live in a world of shadows, where we don't see the reality of ideas. However, it is possible to climb out of the cave, to be released from our shackles but it’s difficult. And when we ( s...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Plato's Cave Allegory

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Cave Allegory was Plato’s attempt to compare what he called “the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature”. Plato had another Greek philosopher by the name of Socrates describe a group of people who lived

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Essay

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "Allegory of the Cave" Plato's describes the journey, which individuals must embark on in order to achieve enlightenment. Plato depicts a comprehensive metaphor that aims to outline the disadvantages we face as a result of a lack of education. When analyzing the ‘Allegory of the Cave’ it's imperative to remember that there are two elements to the story. The first element is the fictional metaphor of the prisoners and the second element is the philosophical view in which the story is supposed to portray, therefore presenting us with the allegory itself.

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Analysis

    1714 Words  | 4 Pages

    When we study the nature of epistemology and what it hopes to grant us through the investigation of it, it is hard, if not altogether impossible to avoid reading Plato’s Meno. In it, Plato uses the characterized forms of his teacher, Socrates, and Meno, a reputable but ignorant follower of Gorgias to create a dialogue heavily reliant on Socrates’ teaching proficiencies to help Meno comprehend the questions he is asking, or rather, the questions he should be asking. Meno begins by asking Plato whether virtue can be taught (70a, 354). It is soon clear that not only does neither man have a solid definition of virtue, but Meno ultimately doesn’t understand how someone can be taught to begin with. It is in his sudden confusion that he asks Plato

    Read More

  • Philosophy CPT: “The unexamined life is not worth living”

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato, a student of Socrates, in his book “The Republic” wrote an allegory known as “Plato's Cave”. In Plato's allegory humans are trapped within a dark cave where they can only catch glimpses of the world above through shadows on the wall.2 Plato is describing how the typical human is. They have little knowledge and what they think they know has very little basis in fact. He describes these people as prisoners, in his allegory, and they are only free when they gain knowledge of the world above the cave.

    Read More

More about Allegory Of The Cave Symbolism

Open Document