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The Cave: The Allegory Of The Cave

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The allegory of the cave represents Socrates theory regarding human perception. He believes that humans are prisoners that are kept away from the truth therefore they are ignorant. Without some instruction about the world humans will remain in a state of ignorance. Socrates uses several images to help deliver his intended connotation such as the cave, the prisoners, shadows, the game, puppeteers, the escape, and the return. The cave is a haven for the three prisoners chained up inside. The cave is supposed to represent the superficial world in which the people incased are unable to gain knowledge of anything real only the things that are fed to them by the puppeteers. The shadows symbolize the perceptions of those who believe in empirical evidence. …show more content…
The escape depicts a prisoner being set free from the cave to expose the truth to him. As the freed prisoner walks out of the cave he experiences sharp pain in his eyes from the bright sun light. He’s bombarded with confusion, the only truth he ever knew in his life was the shadows and now with this new revelation he is unable to see the actual realities beyond the cave. After the freed prisoner discovers the truth symbolized by the sun he becomes more of an intellectual individual. He then sets out on a mission with his newfound knowledge to help free those trapped in the cave. The escapee didn’t realize that this was a daunting task due to the fact that, the prisoners trapped in the artificial world will become hostile and refuse to face another reality. The new reality will force the prisoners to go against everything they previously understood, thus they do not want any part of it. The escaped prisoner is the philosopher that seeks sustenance in a blind world. The journey the freed prisoner represents the journey a philosopher takes when finding truth and wisdom. After the freed man returns to the cave he try’s to inform the others of his findings. They don’t believe him in fact they threaten him if he tries to free them. This part of the allegory clearly states that ignorance is bliss, the cave dwellers do not see that the freed prisoner is only trying to help he is trying to unveil the curtain, but the others do not want any part of it. This is a very disconcerting part of the allegory because there isn’t any hope. The prisoners are afraid of disappointment because the illusion may be so beautiful that when it is ruined or have a chance to get ruined by reality their disappointment kicks in immediately. The freed prisoner represents a glimmer of hope for people to actually learn the truths eager to learn more and bring others into the discovery. His

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