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Allegory Of The Cave And The Matrix Analysis

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Down the Rabbit Hole
“A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible,” (The Matrix). These words spoken at the conclusion of the Wachowski Brothers’ 1999 film, The Matrix, by the main character Neo represent a deeper meaning and a connection to ancient literature many people viewing the film might not realize. This quote relates to a work of literature more than two millennia old, the narrative by Plato called The Allegory of the Cave. Much like how Neo must endure the stages of enlightenment to rise from the blissful ignorance controlled by the matrix in the movie, in The Allegory of the Cave Plato depicts the enlightenment of prisoners who lived in a cave for all of their lives and …show more content…

Even so, Neo eventually accepts the world he lives in, and learns to how to adapt to it while dueling Morpheus in the construct and dodging bullets from an agent. Finally, at the end of the movie, Neo reaches enlightenment when he not only stops bullets, but also alters the matrix by destroying Agent Smith. Both Plato and the Wachowski Brothers used similar plot elements to depict the struggle to achieve enlightenment.
Conversely, differences also exist between the plots of The Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix. While both the men in the allegory and Neo live from birth in their seclusion, The Matrix differs slightly from the allegory, as Neo has a feeling that the matrix exists, and actively tries to discover what the matrix is, while the men in the cave do not try, or even think to try to escape their bondage. Additionally, when Morpheus frees Neo from the matrix Neo has the option to stay ignorant, however he choses knowledge for himself by taking the red pill that allows Morpheus to show him “how deep the rabbit hole goes” (The Matrix). In contrast, the man in Plato’s Allegory stands freed by his captors, and is forced into the light. Finally, when Neo returns to the matrix after his enlightenment, he understands the matrix better than he did before his enlightenment. On the contrary, in the allegory the man returning to the cave from the light does not understand the shadows any longer, and the men who never left the cave mock the enlightened man

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