Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Plato’s allegory of the cave is a famous piece derived from his book the Republic. The cave is famed to be a conversation between Socrates, Plato’s respected mentor, and another one of Socrates’ followers, Glaucon. Additionally, Plato’s allegory is meant to be a depiction of the effects of education on society and Plato expresses his abhorrence with how society has ultimately ostracized philosophers out of ignorance of the philosopher’s teachings. The philosopher’s teachings are attempts to enlighten the prisoners who are bound by chains so they can vicariously experience the true good in the world. Socrates, in this conversation with Glaucon, paints a picture describing a world where people are born as chained prisoners that are forced to stare at a cave wall their entire life. Moreover, there is a fire shining behind them that reflects onto the cold stone wall. Behind the fire, guards pass holding artifacts that cast the statue shadows onto the wall and the prisoners play memorization games identifying these forms as “trees, men, and women”. However, one prisoner is freed and begins to look around the cave. For the first time, the prisoner sees the blazing fire and the actual artifacts that used to be only dim, memorized shadows. To the prisoner’s dismay, he is dragged out of the cave and into the scorching sun. He squirms and shrieks from the pain of the overwhelming light. Eventually, the torture fades as his eyes strengthen and he discovers his suffering was not a punishment, but becomes a reward. The new light around him unleashes the prisoner into discovery finding the stuatues were only mere imitations of flourishing vegetation and human life. He is flabbergasted that the prisoners in the cave think the dim representations are the real forms of life when the prisoners do not enjoy the forms in all their senses of colors, sounds, and textures like he understands the real forms now. Eventually, the prisoner’s eyes are strong enough to gaze above and peer at the glorious heavens and the true source of light, the sun. Finally, the prisoner is overwhelmed by seeing the true source of light and realizes that its beauty illuminates everything around him and is the source of everything good he experiences in the world. Furthermore, the gifted prisoner realizes that understanding of the real forms should not be selfishly indulged but he is called to enlighten his imprisoned peers about what these shadows actually are so they can vicariously experience the full beauty of these forms. Subsequently, his fellow inmates’ minds are incapable of comprehending his descriptions and reject his teachings as lies. Out of ignorance, the other prisoners who embrace the shadowed statues as reality castigate and kill the benevolent teacher.
This allegory expresses Plato’s concept of education in a republic. The prisoners memorizing the shadows represent the general population who do not fully experience the forms. They accept simplistic teachings seeing the world like dimly lit shadows; they never asks hard questions to bring light to the shadowed forms. However, the freed prisoner represents a philosopher’s walk of education. By rejecting simplistic forms, through his difficult and disciplined journey of education, he understands the complexities in the forms and can enjoy the forms with all his senses. His education is rewarded with ultimately arriving at the source of all good: the sun and it sustaining life. Moreover, with his knowledge, he feels called to enlighten the other prisoners and educate them that the shadows are simply representations of the higher world, the world of forms. Subsequently, the killing of the benevolent prisoner, who wanted the prisoners to vicariously experience the true beauty in these shadows, represents society’s response to Plato’s role model, Socrates. Socrates was a martyr for his knowledge trying to teach the blind society the true good in the basic forms through intellect. Although his intentions were to help the society, he was ostracized and death sentenced because he was not like the blind, democratic society who could not understand the deeper complexities in life. In conclusion, Plato thinks the reason society rejects education and philosophers is due to their blinded view, but if they were given a lighted way to education, they would experience the good in the world of forms.