The Allegory of the Cave

Allegories have various meanings according to what you are connecting it to. I believe that an allegory is a way of expressing a meaning or a thought through showing someone the true meaning of what underlies reality.


The Allegory of the Cave was originally told from the teachings of Socrates. Socrates student Plato was so compelled with his teachings that he wrote everything down. He turned his teachings into dialects and forms of lessons. For example, Plato compares the prisoners down in the cave s reactions to their own shadows compared to the ones above.
Surrounding an open-lit fire, the prisoners make hand-puppets and a mixture of things out of their hand that creates shadows against the wall(s) The prisoners believe that their shadows are real, when on for the men speak, resulting to the prisoners being ignorant.

On the other hand, if a prisoner were to discover the layer above them (land, sun) they would feel misplaced at first. Socrates is trying to say that if the prisoners stay in the cave they will never learn the truth. If the prisoners stayed in the cave they would not realize why the sun sets and why it rises at a certain time during the year. Socrates was a man that strived for the truth and knowledge of every view point in life. He questioned every motive of why things existed and why it was real.


This sense of knowledge is similar to the movie, The Matrix in many aspects. Neo seemed to believe that The Matrix was some game to him. Although, he found out the truth about The Matrix is actually the real world he searches for unanswered questions. His conquest was to realize that what he was pursuing was real.