Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Imagine living a majority of your life as usual, to awake one day and realize that your senses deceived you, and your world wasn't real. That predicament matches the one Neo, the main character of The Matrix, and a released prisoner from Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” face. Different time periods separate the two stories, but they still give off the same prevailing afterthought; what is real? Plato's work focuses on the philosophical effects of understanding your life, then discovering the real world upon release. The Matrix, a story of a computer simulated world set up to replace the real post-apocalyptic world for humans, “modernizes the original allegory and adds a more humanistic appeal.” (“The Matrix vs. The Allegory” n.p.) Although some variations appear between The Matrix and “The Allegory of the Cave” in topics like the plot, setting, and characters, the two stories appear more similar than they do different. First, some similarities in the plot

Plato's cave is mostly philosophical, while the Matrix is a “modern paranoia.” (“The Allegory of the Cave” n.p.) The Matrix world is realistic, large, and accommodates humans' needs for happiness. On the other hand, the cave's size is comparatively way smaller, has only a small amount of other humans, and doesn't meet the basic needs of happiness. In the cave, prisoners only faced one wall, chained to the ground where they stood. But in the Matrix, humans live their own lives, free to do anything as long as it does not disturb the Matrix. As Cypher said in the movie, “the matrix can be more real than this world.” (Matrix) While the cave seems like an ideal prison, the Matrix appears to be more of a sanctuary. “The Allegory of the Cave” depicts enlightenment to be better than being unenlightened and trapped. The Matrix causes people to question which they would prefer, ignorance and happiness, or truth and a harsh