Symbolic References In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” was presented in his book, The Republic in about 380 BC. The story is told by Plato in the context of Education. The story is told to Plato’s brother Glaucon by Soctates, Plato’s mentor. The story begins with three prisoners that were chained, immobilized, and forced to face a wall since birth. They had mistaken the images that were being cast on the wall for reality. They heard echoes which they believe were the voices of the shadows that they had seen. One of the prisoner was then released from the cave. When the prisoner was dragged out he was forced to examine his life and examine the life outside the cave. When the prisoner first steps outside his eyes are unable to adjust to the sun. He spends most of his time at this point looing at reflections. He then looks at the water and the night sky. This helps adjust his eyes to the sun. Once he is able to look at the sun, the prisoner realizes that it is unnatural to be in the …show more content…
Such as when the prisoner couldn’t see the sun and didn’t have any knowledge of the outside world, but once he was able to see the sun he was able to see the world around him and gain the knowledge of the outside world. I didn’t like the structure of the reading. It was hard to follow who was saying what, especially with all the different people narrating and speaking. I needed to read the literature a couple of times to truly understand the point that Plato was trying to get across in the literature. Plato wanted the reader to grasp his ideology and concept of education. Plato’s ideology present in “Allegory of the Cave” is that education is the power and capacity of learning that has already existed in the soul. His philosophy on education is seen throughout the journey of the free prisoner. When the prisoner exists the cave he is given the chance to look at the knowledge that is within him and he is able to act on