Michelle's Allegory of the Cave Response

For Plato, human beings live in a world of visible and intelligible things. In “Allegory of the Cave”, Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are tied down and forced to look up at a wall of the cave. His abstract presentation of the “divided line”, symbolized between the dark cave and the outside world, helps illustrate the concepts of human illusions, beliefs, reason, and intelligence.

In “Allegory of the Cave”, the visible/changing world is characterized by the illusions and beliefs the prisoners have of the shadows on the wall in front of them. In the space hidden above them in the cave is a fire. This is the light source for the shadow projections and can also be symbolic of the true light of reason and intelligence. Plato emphasizes the symbolism of light when Socrates adds on to the allegory by exposing a freed prisoner to the world outside the dark cave. This having been said, Plato stresses the division between the intelligible world within the cave, and the visible world above the cave in daylight. The metaphor of the sun can be also be interpreted as the necessary light to see things in order to raise valid ideas about them. Once the freed prisoner is released, he is forced to look upon the fire and the objects that once dictated his perception of reality within the dark cave. Doing this, the prisoner realizes these new images in front of him are now the accepted forms of reality. 

Plato’s freed prisoner represents the vision of a solid leader. Even though the rest of the prisoners will not understand him and his insights, he is expected to return to the cave to govern the truth.  This interpretation can be applied to the roles of a teacher to his/her student, much similar to that between Socrates and his student Glaucon.  Through this allegory, Socrates has highlighted an educator’s role, in stressing that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but that education lies within the mentor directing his/her student towards the path to what is important and real, this way allowing the student to discover the truth themselves.

        I believe “Allegory of the Cave” can be very valuable to students and teachers alike. Applying this piece of literature to our class may explain the process we as art students should be prepared for: finding our own way to a successful piece. As we are guided throughout our own artistic endeavors more so than instructed on what to create, it also may be essential for us to realize that this method should help inspire and prepare us to work and think more independently as artists and human beings alike.