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The Ideas Of Christopher Nolan's Allegory Of The Cave

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In the seventh book of his most famous work The Republic, Plato describes a tale popularly known as the Allegory of the Cave. This tale depicts a cave where many prisoners are chained and live in the dark with a single blaring fire in the distance. The tale prompts the character Glaucon, a fellow philosopher, to imagine there are shadows cast by fake creatures. The prisoners are not sure of what is real and what is not; only of the reality of the dark cave. However, there is more to life then living in the cave. Once one of the men sees the light, they will slowly learn to embrace the new reality of sunlight. The idea of the Allegory of the Cave and other ideals of Socrates, while centuries old, continue appear in today’s literature and media. Award winning film director Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy is filled with the philosophies of Plato and Socrates. The third installment of the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, makes an almost exact illustration of the Allegory of the Cave and how it affects current society. In the films, Batman is portrayed as “philosophy king”-like figure who has symbolically escaped the cave and been exposed to the …show more content…

Socrates explains that these enlightened individuals have this desire because they know that the city would be less just if they refrained from rule.
In The Dark Knight Rises, Batman seems to be living a lie. Alfred (his butler) wants to see Batman move on from a life of crime-fighting into a simple reality with a wife and kids. Batman however is torn between two realities and must make a choice; choose a life of crime fighting or another reality in which he is happy. The only problem is Batman knows the city of Gotham needs him. Batman is still stuck in the "dark" as he is unsure of himself and his reality. He knows the light is better than the dark but the dark is calling his name. (Hence the dark

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In “1984” and “Allegory of the Cave”, there are several connections to be drawn, Winston Smith, the protagonist is very similar to the philosopher from the cave because he’s like a freed prisoner that is not aware of the things he sees every day. The people of Oceania are willing to abide by the laws of their government because they know that they are under the watchful eye of Big Brother; Winston doesn’t understand why he’s uncomfortable with his daily life until he slowly begins to question the world around him and becomes aware of the blatant and control of his society. In both, “1984” and “Allegory of the Cave”, Winston's story is a person who attempts to leave the cave, sharing certain Inner Party lies and begins to question and seek

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Plato tells us that the prisoners are confused on their emergence from the cave and that the prisoners’ will be blinded once they had been freed from the cave. After a period of time they will adjust their eyesight and begin to understand the true reality that the world poses. The stubbornness to develop a different perspective is seen in much of today’s society. The allegory of the cave is an understanding of what the true world is and how many people never see it because of their views of the society they are raised in.

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Introduction Plato, a famous Greek philosopher wrote the Allegory of the Cave. He tried to answer some of the profound questions which arose about the nature of reality. He tells the story of 'Allegory of the Cave' as a conversation between his mentor, Socrates (Plato’s mentor), who inspired many of Plato's philosophical theories, and one of Socrates' students, Glaucon (Plato’s older brother). He uses an allegory as a short informative story, to illustrate 'forms' and the 'cave,' in his main work, The Republic (which first appeared around 380 BC). It is one of the most perceptive attempts to explain the nature of reality.

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