Plato opens his famous cave metaphor with the phrase “like that:”. Plato is emphasizing the fact that the passage can be read as both a metaphorical description and a symbolic representation (VII.514). He also insists that the “imagine” command must be followed by the reader, which strengthens the allegorical nature and character of the work. In other words, the reader enters the passage as both a voyeur (VII.514) and a conceptualist (VII. 514). The passage creates a replica of Plato’s educational philosophy, which is described in The Republic. This experience helps the reader to understand the role and meaning of the philosopher king. The allegory therefore is more than just a vision of “the effect of education upon our nature”, it is also a metaphor that draws on the larger themes of the work (VII.514).
After Plato’s metaphorical introduction, the author sets up the scene by selecting images that best reflect the symbolic intent of the passage. This passage follows a sequence of symbolic illustrations and ideological introductions. The interplay creates a whole world of allegorical context. The “underground cavelike dwelling” invokes images of darkness, suppression, and inhabitation. This suggests that the humans in this scene have been there since childhood. They are locked in the same spot with their necks, legs, and necks fettered. Glaucon responds to this scene by saying, “It’s strange image you’re explaining, and strange prisoners,” giving the perspective of the reader within allegory. This draws it back to the real as did the command to “imagine” at beginning of metaphor (VII.515).
The passage returns to the usual dialogue exchange after the monologue. With the statement that “they’re similar to us,” the passage draws the reader in to the world of the allegory. As dialogue progresses, the association between actual and allegorical starts to take shape. Its structure mimics actual mental processes (VII.515). Plato continues to explore the metaphor by adding a number of suppositions. He invokes Glaucon in order to conceptualize the vision and justify it. The reader is asked to imagine what it would be like for prisoners to be released from their prison chains and to be cured of their ignorance if this happened (VII.515c). The use here of the term “naturally,” is significant because it not just invokes the theme of natural, but also reveals deeper topos of justice. The idea that “put[ing] yourself in order…not concerned [with someone’s doing an externally] but with what he has inside him” is similar to the cave-like environment (IV:443d). What happens when one prisoner is suddenly forced to stand, turn his head and walk toward the light? (VII.515c). This rapid movement comes from a spatially static narrative and prepares readers for change.
Below is a basic figurative illustration that Plato used to illustrate his goal of education. The prisoner, who is not in chains, sees “more correctly”, though he is initially afraid and painful. But he eventually sees and can study the “cause of all the things he used see” (516c). The spatially-controlled setting depicts the intellectual voyage to see the truth in a choreographed scene. The struggle that ensues between this enlightened human and his ignorant captives echoes Plato’s ideal for kallipolis and its silver and bronze inhabitants. The “ascent and see the good …[ must be completed by the enlightened, who will then live in the common residence of others…and see far better than those living there. The truth is that they have seen all the good, fine, and just things. They will recognize each image …[, and the city’s governance will be done by awake people rather than those who dream” (VII,520c-d).
Plato’s repeated references to the adjustment and blinding of sunlight, as well as the dimming of shadows, all point to the dominant metaphor of luminosity. As his allegory and subject fuse more topically, the passage shifts from the spatial and motional to visually. Plato even goes further and says that the whole image must be connected with his previous statements. The visible realm is likened with a prison dwelling, and its light to the sun. And [we] can understand his intention to communicate by interpreting the upward trip and the study of the things above as the upward passage of the soul from the intelligible kingdom. Plato thus creates a frame vision within an interpretive text which explains and draws from it image.
Plato continues to use the metaphor of vision when analysing this allegory. “Education doesn’t mean what people think it is…putting knowledge into those who lack it, just like giving sight to blind eyes. The power to learn lies within everyone. Education assumes that sight is present, but it doesn’t see the way it should. It tries to redirect the sight appropriately (VII.518c-d). This redirection is when the philosophers “go to the prisoners again in the cave” and share their labors. Plato shows the major themes of his work by using the simple metaphor of a cave’ as a dominant metaphor. This cave is where the individual transcends their special, visual, and motional limitations and then reveals them to the whole.
Plato’s main points in the Republic are illustrated by the allegory about the cave. Paradoxically, this allegory is the easiest to comprehend. It’s the culmination of Plato’s education that has enabled him to become more knowledgeable than ever before. He has also experienced with Glaucon a dramaticization of the basic process of education. Plato’s most complicated points are explained by the vision of a cave. But, the vision is metaphorical and it feels as though we are not being instructed, but rather, are learning the lessons ourselves. This notion of faked engagement, such a noble and noble falsehood, echos those of the philosopher. It also reveals how the narrative structure guides us through the work. In other words, we are just voyeurs to Plato’s incredible constructions.
