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The Perception Of Truth In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

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Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" parallels "The Matrix" in a number of ways. In the story "Allegory of the Cave "and in the film the Matrix, both explore the obscure question of the perception of truth.

In the story "Allegory of the Cave", the prisoners in the cave have never seen anything outside the cave but inside the cave there's a fire and it reflects the shadows of the people and things that are from outside the cave. So, the prisoners perception of objects is based on the shadows produced by the firelight in the cave. In the story Plato mentions that "to them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images" (paragraph 13). Meaning that the prisoners are forming their own opinions about the things they see or …show more content…

(paragraph 15). The prisoner can now see and hear the real world instead of being told or shown. At first, prisoner would have some discomfort and he would hesitate into believing the real world. The prisoner would still persist in maintaining the superior truth of the shadows because he got his knowledge of the objects by relying on his senses. But, later his perception of reality has been changed, just like the main character Neo from the Matrix. When Neo gets freed from the matrix, at first, Neo also had some discomfort and is in a state of denial. He soon discovers that what he has been presented with his entire life is not real but he has the curiosity to learn more about the

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