Comparing The Prisoners In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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In both works, the cave prisoners and Neo are portrayed as ignorant but questioning of the world they cannot see but can sense, as represented by the cave and the matrix. In “Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoners have been chained up since birth, and only know of the world inside the cave. The prisoners have always had curiosity about the outside world, but they are content with their inside world. Socrates even claims that “to [the prisoners], the truth would literally be nothing but the shadows of the images” (Plato 29). Socrates is saying that because all the prisoners know is the shadows, that is all they believe. The prisoners are cognizant of this outside world, but they have no desire to break free from their shackles and try to flee