Allegory Of The Cave Comparative Essay

The Matrix, “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, and the “Meditation 1 of the Things of Which We May Doubt” by Rene Descartes were written in different periods, but there are some similarities but many differences between the stories. Throughout time man has been challenged with finding the answers to the questions of our existence and the world around us. These writings showed each man struggled to find the reality of this world and who was in control of their world where they were in control or someone else. The stories are similar but in separate times showing that we are all prisoners of the reality that we live in. All of the characters were dominated, and they could not see reality for what it truly was. In the Matrix

One prisoner is released in the Cave and sees that the “reality” that he believed was far from the truth once he is free. Neo has the same experience as he finds the truth once he takes “the red pill” and computer is no longer running his life. The other similarity of the two is the darkness of the setting in each story showing that they were going from the darkness to the light symbolizing a new life. The last similarity is that the characters were both prisoners from birth and did not know anything different, but both took a chance and escaped to find all that there was for them. Descartes “Mediations” and The Matrix are similar as they both use the theme of dreaming. Descartes wants to use his senses to dream and see “the objects which appear to us in sleep are, as it were, painted representations which could not have been formed unless sin the likeness of realities.” In The Matrix Neo and other people are put into a deep sleep and are controlled by the computer and have no chance of escaping. The difference between dreaming and reality was a struggle for Descartes and