Human Nature In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

In the Allegory of the Cave, three brothers are chained to a wall and the brother can only see shadows of real things. One brother is set free from the cave and can now perceive reality for what it really is. The brother tries to go back and save his other brothers but his brothers are too comfortable in their chains. Even if the brother was able to set his brothers free and let them see outside of the cave, the brothers would have gone blind from the brightness. Both Linda and John died because they were shown new realities too fast which is the representation of the brothers going blind from the brightness of the sun.

The Allegory of the Cave is a story written about Plato out a 3 people locked in a cave since birth. In this cave they are chained up and only see shadows that are projected on the walls. One day a prisoner breaks free and and goes outside, he is instantly blinded by the Sun. As his eyes start to get used to the Sun he quickly realises that the shadows are not real objects, rather the objects casting them. The ex-prisoner returns to the cave to try to break the others free but is thrown back because they thought he was insane.

In the beginning portion of “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato introduces the story of the prisoners in a cave to illustrate the foundation of why some do not like change. He begins by explaining there are three prisoners in a cave who are bound and can only see the shadows of objects projected by a fire behind them (Plato 201). The author begins with this portion of the example to set the context for the rest of the allegory. Plato then goes on to describe how one prisoner is released to the outside world to experience the

First, both Frankenstein and “Allegory of the Cave” show the idea of being hidden from the truth. “Allegory of the Cave” is an allegory where 3 prisoners were tied up in a cave and forced to face the cave wall since childhood. A fire is behind them, with people walking beside it, so the prisoners see the shadows of the things they are holding. But one prisoner is released, and told that the shadows, his “reality”, is not true and only an illusion.

As Will Durant once stated, “Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” Ignorance can make one unaware of the dismal reality he is living. Only the knowledge gained can be used to reach overall enlightenment. Similarly, these ideas are expressed through a prisoner trapped in a cave in “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, as well as Neo stuck in a false world in The Matrix by the Wachowski’s. Both stories exhibit the struggle of escaping ignorance and reaching a place of knowledge.

Amir wasn't always nice to Hassan. He always teased him when he didn't know something. “yes I lied and I thought of how I had used my literacy to ridicule Hassan and how I teased him about big words he didn't know.” (Hosseini 29) This brought Hassan’s education down hill because he believes what Amir says.

Allegory of the Cave, a short story by renowned philosopher Plato, describes the life of prisoners chained inside of a cave where all the knowledge they receive is given by unknown strangers behind them. It continues to elaborate on their transition from a lackluster world where they were truly in the dark to one that completely surpasses all expectations. Likewise, Stranger Than Fiction, a movie written by Zach Helm, illustrates an IRS auditor, Harold Crick, that is shackled by his mundane lifestyle and also has an embodied voice that seems to be controlling his life. The movie goes on to describe his arduous journey toward finding the woman behind the voice, which ultimately gives him a new perspective on life. Zach Helm’s screenplay Stranger Than Fiction and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave both describe the experience of a person escaping limited perspective darkness and discovering a more complex world than they had previously thought existed.

Society would never accept him as society treats outcast and people that are any 'different ' atrociously. The monster acquired books of "Paradise Lost", "Plutarch 's Lives" and "The Sorrows of Werter", which "gave him extreme delight" as he studied and exercised his mind. When he came across the DeLacey family, hope sparked inside of him as he believed he would finally be accepted by at least a small part of society. Intelligently enough the monster made his move and approached the blind old man, in which he knew wouldn 't be able to see him or judge him by his distorted appearance. He finally grasps the chance into talking to the old man, De Lacey and he acknowledges that if he fails in being accepted by them he will be "an outcast in the world for ever".

Plato once said that “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Outsiders, members of illegitimate societies, are shunned because of limitations and restrictions in society. They tend to gravitate towards the light, but very few complete their journey. In Othello, The Great Gatsby, and The Death of a Salesman, heroic ambitions for acceptance and escape from the darkness are combated by societal expectations, shown through the light, which acts as a lure, towards societal norms and goals. Ironically, however, the tragedies that face all the protagonists are because of the darkness, or secret desires that each character makes to overcome their expectations.

The light of the fire he burns acting as a purity to reincarnate IM. He is able to break apart the darkness; he leaves behind his inability to see and begins living in the light of his own decisions: “And my problem was that I always tried to go everyone’s way but my own” (573). IM has finally realized that his fault was senselessly following other’s ideas, leading to exactly to where he is now. In the act of burning his belongings, IM is taking a meaningful step away from his past. He is separating himself from all the prejudices and stereotypes he had subjected himself

Jingjing Zhang Instructor Shay Tschirhart ENGL 1311L 31 August 2015 knowledge can be enriching and painful The dialogue “Allegory of the Cave” was written by Plato. His point is that humanity is ignorant about the true nature of reality. Once humans got out of the cave, they went into the real world; they can understand what reality is and get into true knowledge.

The feeling of happiness after helping someone is perhaps the only sure thing a hero can expect, and when even this is not fulfilled, it hurts the hero even more. Fitz from the Farseer series of books is the best example of this feeling of betrayal. He is tortured to death for the amusement of his uncle, but is then brought back by his mentors with magic. However, he is forced to stay dead to keep everyone associated alive, and cannot see them again. When he finally recovers, he is forced to flee after a raid on his home, while leaving the raider 's bodies behind.

If they were able to move and look around, they would have seen the truth of the statues, and the fire behind them. The cave is a metaphor for human existence. The people in the cave accept the shadows on the cave wall as reality because this is all that they have experienced. The echoes they hear are assumed by them to be real for the same reason. Plato is trying to illustrate that people know little truth about the reality of the world.

Kangbo Lu Josh Coito English 122 20 March 2016 Journal #9: “Allegory of the Cave” In Plato’s allegory “The Allegory of the Cave”, he implies that people might born or live in a world of darkness and being unenlightened, and knowledge can enlighten them. Plato develops his ideas by giving an parable of a caveman was being enlightened by the light of outside world and returned to the cave to describe his experience, comparing the people in the real world to the story of the caveman, and explaining why governing is similar to this parable. By using the allegory of the cave with formal diction and educating tone, he exams the reality of our world in order to educate Glaucon that the reality of this world is like the shadow on the world, and the governors of state should be like the enlightened caveman to not only continue attaining knowledge,

The first philosopher that I will be engaging in the practice of self questioning is Plato and his story of the Allegory of the Cave from the The Republic. Allegory of the Cave according to Plato is a theory of human perception of finding the truth, and not becoming ignorant even if the people around you are. A prisoner in the story escaped after being tied down their whole life and was forced to stare at a wall that shows shadows of everyday objects and animals. The shadow is created through two dimensional objects held by non prisoners in a walkway in front of a fire pit. They create shadows into a wall that prisoners are forced to watch, and that is what they believe to be true for their whole life.