Feeling triggered and threatened by the information, eventually the cave dwellers consider the freed prisoner to be a threat, and plot to kill him. The stories they are told, the other prisoners have no reference for. Because of his blindness, the other prisoners assumed he had been harmed by the experience, they are vehemently against the idea of leaving the cave. Upon returning, the prisoner is blinded by the dark, his eyes struggle to adjust to the lack of light. The prisoner decides to return to the cave, and communicate to the dwellers, the true reality of the shadows, and the world beyond. The freed prisoner realises the superior nature of the outside world compared to the cave. The prisoner sees the sun, stars, water, and animals. The light from the sun firstly blinds the prisoner, eventually the exterior world starts to reveal itself.
But the prisoner journeys on, leaving the cave completely venturing to the surface of the outside world. The truth is laid bare to the prisoner, the initial response would be to run back to the cave, returning to the comfort of the previous false reality. The prisoner discovers the flame and objects are the true source to the shadows, he immediately realises the illusion. One day, one of the prisoners is freed, and is able to see behind the wall. They create stories and meaning behind the shadows, taking great pride in their knowledge of the perceived understanding of these shadowy forms. These shadows make up the entire prisoners, knowledge and reality. The Allegory sets the scene of a group of prisoners who since childhood have been chained to a wall built inside a cave.īehind the wall, out of sight of the prisoners a flame burns, objects pass in front of the flame, projecting shadows onto the caves surface in front of the prisoners.
This story originates from Plato’s book Republica (514a – 520) and was written to compare ‘the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature”.
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