An Nguyen

October 21, 2015

Period 2
Platos Purpose
When Plato wrote the Allegory of the Cave, his ultimate purpose was to tell his readers to
use their resources to learn as much as possible because knowledge gives the power to see the
world in the most beautiful light. Plato sets the scene by describing how the prisoners have
bonds [that] prevent them from turning their heads around (Plato 1) and see nothing besides
the shadows that the fire casts on the wall in front of them (Plato 5). The prisoners of the cave
represent the people who do not use their education to their full potential. With this comparison,
Plato is saying that refusing to learn is like locking yourself away from the beauty of the world.
They only see shadows on a wall, which symbolizes being able to see things but not understand
them, when they could be seeing the shadow-makers in full detail, which symbolizes the ability
to both see and understand. Once a prisoner has been released from the cave and adjusted to the
outside, however, he would go through any sufferings, rather than share [his] opinions and live
as [the other prisoners] do (Plato 29). In relation to education in todays world, this means that
once one is educated, he or she will be able to see how out of touch they were with the world
when they were prisoners, but they never would have known if they had not left the cave. In
order to see the all the good in the world, one must first leave the cave of ignorance and learn. If
someone turns from the divine study to the evils of human life, though, he behaves
awkwardly and appears completely ridiculous if hes compelledto contend about the shadows
of justice or the statues of which they are the shadows (Plato 39). In other words, if someone
begins his or her education but does not complete it, he or she may become more confused than
he or she was when completely uneducated. Plato also was enforcing the importance of
education further by comparing it to religion when he used words like divine study and evils
of human life. Socrates ends his lesson by saying that the power to learn is present in
everyones soul and that the instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be
turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body (Plato 45). Not putting full
effort into educating oneself is like not turning the whole body toward the light that will improve
ones life infinitely.