A Summary of Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Plato’s allegory of the cave describes a group of prisoners captive in a cave. From their birth they are chained in position, unable to move. Their necks are fixed so that all that is visible to them is the blank wall ahead of them, upon which they continuously gaze. Behind the prisoners is a raised walkway, and behind the walkway a huge blazing fire. People make their way across said walkway, carrying objects on their heads. Now, the prisoners are obviously unable to see the walkway, fire or people, as they are forced to face the opposite direction - what they can see however, are the shadows of the people thrown against the blank wall by the glowing light of the fire. 

It is suggested that as this is all the prisoners see, they would believe the shadows to be the reality of vision, and the echos of the noises made behind them to be the reality of sound created by the shadows, which they believe to be real forms. The entire society of these prisoners is based around these shadows and anyone with ‘knowledge’ of these shadowy figures would be regarded as someone with a great understanding of the world.

The allegory asks us to consider one of these prisoners being freed from his bindings and allowed to move as he wishes. When looking at the figures that cause the shadows on the wall, he would not recognise them as reality, and when looking at the fire itself he would be blinded and avert his gaze back towards the shadows, what he believed to be real. If the man were to be dragged from the cave and out into the world above he would be even more blinded by the light of the sun. It’s suggested that bewilderment with an unfamiliar world would cause anger within the once-prisoner. However, after spending time on the surface the man would start to take in his surroundings and form a new understanding of reality. 

When thinking of his past home, the cave, it is suggested that the freed prisoner would consider himself happy and feel pity towards the other men held captive - when thinking of what was classed as wisdom there and the wisdom he has gained from seeing the surface, losing all admiration for any ‘understanding’ of the world these captives believe they hold. 

Not only would the freed-prisoners idea of the still-prisoners and their views change, but vice versa. It is suggested that the prisoners still in the cave would claim that his eyes had been corrupted and that the idea of traveling out of the cave was negligible, even to the extent that given the chance, they would try to kill the man who tried to release them from the cave. The prisoners would consider the freed-man an imbecile, a result of being afraid of that which they don’t know.