Analysis Of Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

When Plato crafted the allegory of the cave he was doing so with the intention of describing the ignorance of man and the importance of education. At the surface that may be all that can be learned from this tale, one must wonder, just who is the prisoner portrayed in this tale. Through examining the ideas presented it can be concluded that the man in the cave is a representation for ignorance, but is that it? Is that all the prisoner stands for or is there more to the tale. Let’s examine the prisoner in his natural state, shackled up and staring at the shadows presented to him. In fact Socrates describes the wall in front of it, “like the partition at the front of a puppet stage.”(Stephanus 514b), what do you do when given a stage, you watch and become immersed in the world they present you. He lives in the reality presented to him, his education is whatever the shadows show him, the blinders he wears prevents him from seeing anything else(Stephanus 514b). His condition is deplorable, all they have is a fire for warmth and it is open to conjecture as to whether or not they have enough to eat. Yet the prisoner accepts this, why else would he fight to stay, it is all he knows and all that he cares for. He has no vision of the outside world other than the shadows that dance in front of him every day, and even then it’s up to conjecture as to whether or not he has the faintest notion of what those shadows truly are. It is certain that he grew accustomed to the