Table of Contents
Introduction
In "the allegory of the cave" by Plato, the author shows a dialogue between Socrates Plato's teacher and Glaucon Plato's brother. It describes people who lived in the cave since their existence, their legs and neck were chained on the wall as they faced the blank wall thus they could not figure out anything apart from the shadows which projected on the wall. The study below is an analysis of some of the most essential aspects of the entire dialogue like the message intended by the author, the conflict of the main characters and the conclusion of the author.
In "the allegory of the cave" by Plato, the author of play represents his message in form of metaphor which contracted the way in which we perceive and believe in what is the reality. His thesis behind the allegory is the doctrine that most of what we believe to be inexistence is imperfect or the reflections of the reality. The false perceptions of the prisoners are represented by the fictional metaphor of their experiences while in the cave while the reality of the reflections is represented by the experiences of a prisoner when released from the cave. It would not be easy to convince the prisoner that what he saw outside the cave was the reality and what he had lived to believe in was just an illusion.
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In "the allegory of the cave" by Plato, the conflict of the author or the main character Socrates is the struggle as they tried to create a public figure of the cave in which the prisoners lived since they were born and how their conditions affected the wrong perception they had of the reality. It was also not easy to create an image of how the released prisoners discovered the reality and accepted that what they see outside the cave is the real truth (Plato, 1941, pp 1-8).
In "the allegory of the cave" by Plato the conflict of the author or the main character was resolved be4cause they managed to deliver the information that they intended. This is so by narrating and creating an image of the cave and how the prisoners lived there thus it is possible for the listener or reader to have a clear image of what they intends. Socrates was able to communicate the intended message to Glaucon by use of case study of the prisoners in the cave; the experiences they had in and outside it thus the differences between their perceptions and the reality of the existence of things.
In "the allegory of the cave" by Plato, Socrates says, "To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images". This explains that the prisoners thought that nothing else existed apart from the shadows of images. He also says, "He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold?"
He was trying to explain how the prisoner felt when he saw the sun and realized that it is the one responsible for the time and season and natural light for all which is visible in the world. Socrates also says, "Imagine once more, I said, such a one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?" He tries to show how the prisoner who had an opportunity to discover the reality would feel when taken back to prison just to live unrealistic life (Plato, 1941 pp 5-14).
Conclusion
In "the allegory of the cave" by Plato, the author or the main character concludes the dialogue by relating the case study with life in their state. He saying that to ensure reality of life, the politicians or leaders who are exposed to all lights to see all things should one day go back to the caves where the ordinary people live with insufficient light to give the poor an opportunity to access enough light like them thus discover the reality of everything.