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  • Essay / "The Myth of the Cave" by Plato

    "The Myth of the Cave" by Plato, depicts a very important message. This book was written over 2500 years ago in the year 400 BC. L The extract is a conversation that Socrates speaks with Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon about the people in an underground cave, these people have been in the cave since they were children, they are chained so they can only see what is in front of them. cave has an opening and a mouth the fire is lit behind them There is a raised wall between them and the fire, the prisoners cannot see each other or themselves. their shadows, those of others and objects carried over the fire. They also see puppeteers, when they see the shadows of the puppets, they think it is real The prisoners only know the world as an illusion. a prisoner is released and forced to turn his neck, the fire will hurt his eyes. He will suffer from seeing those things which cast shadows, “he will be incapable of seeing the realities of which, in his previous state, he had seen the shadows; and then conceive of someone telling him that what he saw before was an illusion” (Plato 514). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay He will be unable to name the things he saw as a shadow, if he leaves the cave it will be even more painful. However, he will slowly recover and when he does, he will see the condition of the other prisoners and consider himself lucky. But if he came back to tell everyone about the false life that exists at home, “wouldn’t he be ridiculous?” » (Plato 517). He would be the laughing stock of the prisoners, he would have difficulty walking because his eyes are not adapted and would make a fool of himself, they would think that the sun had damaged his eyes, "Men would say of him that he went up and he went down without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of going up” (Plato 517) The prisoner will be afraid to go out and kill anyone who tries to get him out of the cave Plato’s analogy is that the ignorant. are those who see the shadows and do not question whether they are real or not. However, the more intelligent people are, the more they see the shadows and the puppets they are cast into, the more they also see the light they are in. projected in the first place. Smarter people are more aware of their surroundings. He also says that the average person is stuck in a boring life, that they are stuck in their own sort of cave, unable to see true beauty other than life. life has to offer, people imagine they see real things. Only once they leave their caves will they see the true beauty of reality. At first it will be overwhelming and blinded by reality, but once they get used to it, they will see their past as depressing and will have the chance to see it. They are unable to tell their friends about their new discovery and will be made fun of if they do...