Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, is one of the prominent philosophical novels of all times.
The novel discusses human’s perception of reality and whether there is any greater truth to
existence. Similarly, the allegory insinuates that human perception cannot derive an ideal
knowledge. However, real knowledge can only be obtained through philosophical studies. The
allegory posits that there are prisoners chained in a cave. Bhind the prisoner is a fire, and
between the fire and the prisoners are individuals with various objects. Whatever the people
outside the cave do appears on the walls where the prisoners are. However, they only see
shadows and perceive them to be real. Thus, the allegory is Plato’s depiction of human education
towards enlightenment.
The novel portrays a theory regarding human perception. Plato argues that knowledge
acquired through the senses is not different from opinion. Therefore, to have real knowledge,
people must strive for philosophical reasoning. Plato uses the case of the three prisoners in the
cave to substantiate this theory. While in the cave, Plato assumes that the only way by which the
prisoners can get freedom is through being intellectuals in their reasoning whenever they want to
understand the world, the meaning of light, and how to get out of the cave. “Whenever any of
them was unchained and was forced to stand up suddenly, to turn around, to walk, and to look up
at those things whose shadows he saw before.” In this quote, Plato suggests that good education
should provoke intellectual enlightenment to enable individuals find solution to their challenges.

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The allegory is a true depiction of human knowledge. Furthermore, the concept is used in
modern filmmaking to convey meanings. People watching films are forced to perceive whatever
they are seeing on the screens to be real even though that could not be the case. Thus, like
viewers of a film, the allegory of the cave provokes more critical analysis and contemplation of
what is visible to unravel the hidden meanings.