The Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave, written by Plato, is about prisoners bound in chains. These prisoners were raised in the cave, only seeing shadows on a wall created by their keepers. The keepers used puppets and fire to cast shadows upon the wall the prisoners were fixed upon. The picture on the left illustrates the basic idea Plato is trying to show in his allegory. The prisoners see the shadows as reality, they do not know of the world outside of the cave. People of today are also bound in chains in a similar way to the prisoners in the cave. Reality t.v. has taken over the 21st century. Viewers watch t.v. like it is reality. This is especially true with MTV. Many of the shows appear to be reality when they are truly staged, similar to the images on the wall in the cave. In The Allegory of the Cave, Plato discusses going beyond reality. One must ascend into a higher intelligence level. The prisoners eyes are stuck on the shadows cast on the wall of the cave. They are stuck in the dark, hidden from the true light. Plato states in his allegory, "the turning of a should round from a day which is like night to a true day--this is the ascent into real being, which we shall say is true philosophy" (232). One must go beyond what he sees as real in the darkness and step into the light. Plato's allegory illustrates the idea of seeing what is true reality and going beyond the tangible.