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Darrin Dominguez
Maya Alapin
English 120
02 March 2015
Platos Allegory of the Cave: A Perspective on Education
If a person has sense hell remember that two things confuse the eyes; moving from
darkness to light and from light to darkness, and believe that the same happens to the soul.
Therefore he wont thoughtlessly laugh when he sees a soul stunned and unable to see, but
examine whether its darkened by the glitter in moving from deeper ignorance to greater
brightness; then congratulate the first on its state and life but pity the other (Plato 178). Plato is
known for his perspective that knowledge is true belief. He implies that anything obtained
through education can be brought into perspective and used to further educate and provide
information. In Allegory of the Cave, Plato illustrates the concept of education by utilizing the
cave prisoners as a representation of society applicable to all different time periods.
The cave that provides the natural setting for the entirety of the excerpt, acts as a
container. This container itself represents an accumulation of different people who are ruled
under one power that controls them. The cave is dark and only lit with a fire behind them to
represent the complete power that the ruler has over the people. For instance, from a very biased
perspective, our country requires a large sum of money in order to obtain a proper education so
that we have an opportunity to further our success in a variety of different career fields. This
accurately portrays Platos implication of a ruler deciding what predetermined qualities allow

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regular citizens to receive an education. Power and social status determine many different
circumstances throughout each different lifetime but education receives the biggest impact.
In Allegory of the Cave, Plato also implies that power and status plays a strong factor
in the role of education. He describes the prisoners as people who have been chained up and have
never seen the outside world. Plato plots that the prisoners have been chained due to a higher
power that restricted them from having any choices in their lifetime. In demeaning tone, Plato
talks about how the prisoners play games with each other to see who can find the actually reality;
the reality consists of only a shadow, matching everything else that they see.
Switching to the Claymation video perspective, the narrator discusses the fear shared
between the prisoners whenever something unfamiliar was shown as a shadow representation
along the wall. Fear of change also factors as one of the chains that holds a person back from
receiving a proper education. As of today, modern society relies on status quo in order to keep
the world at peace. For example, each of the unitary powers among the world rely on the status
quo in order to keep the trade market alive, to keep smaller countries from going to war with
each other, and keep their citizens content. Taking from that example, it illustrates that change is
always feared. Fear is a very realistic factor into anytime and can prevent anyone from
accomplishing their dreams. Allegory of the Cave represents this factor of fear when someone
ventures out of their comfort zone into something unknown.
Towards the end of Platos Allegory of the Cave, one of the prisoners is set free. His
short lived adventure represents the overwhelming feeling that comes from a long awaited
achieved education. When the released prisoner returns, he attempts to discuss the different
wonders of the world that he has seen with the others. The prisoners cannot understand him and
choose not to listen because that it not what they have been taught to learn. This situation

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represents normal societys views on overachievers within certain fields. People who cannot
achieve their ideal education will be unable to comprehend anything that has not already been
taught to them. For example, a homeless bum will not be able to comprehend a surgeons work.
Based on Allegory of the Cave, alone, Platos view of education is very narrow and
unforgiving. Overall, Plato has illustrated how important education is in order to succeed.
Through his depiction of the cave and the prisoners, Plato illustrated that only bonds, which are
subjected to the individual can hold back someone from their dreams of education. Plato also
implies education as a concept to be cherished and those to obtain it, to take advantage of it.
Because the prisoners are subjected to only what is taught and shown to them, Plato illustrates
that education cannot not be fulfilled to everybody and that most of society accepts only what is
taught to them rather than developing a further understanding of reality.

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Works Cited
Huard, Roger L. Plato's Political Philosophy: The Cave. New York, NY, USA: Algora
Publishing, 2006. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 1 March 2015.
Plato. The Republic. Allan Bloom, 1968. Print.