Relationship between The Matrix’ And Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
The Allegory of the Cave is amongst the most renowned works of Plato. It refers to the extended allegory in which humans are portrayed as having been bound by their individual bodies and what they see through suite alone (Castro 104). In Plato’s allegory of the cave, his objective was to indicate the manner in which the actual reality is never what it always seem to be. Some prisoners were locked up in chains within a cave as from childhood, and every prisoner was also chained to one another through the head. Further, the prisoners were required to face a blank wall even as they were imprisoned inside the cave. A fire was lit behind the prisoners and though they were unable to see the fire there was a puppet show in which individuals would talk, walk, as well as carry various objects with the aim of keeping the prisoners amused. The prisoners were only able to see the individuals’ shadows along with those of the things that were on the walkway. They were also hearing echoes originating from the talks of the shadows. In this regard, they observed the echoes and shadows as reality.
While in prison, a prisoner was then set free, and as he stood up and turned around, he was forced to look at the fire for the first time, and after his eyes becomes painful as a result of looking at the fire, he can barely see anything. The prisoner is later removed from the cave into the real world above and becomes amused by the light to an extent that he is only able to look at the shadows, followed by reflections and then the real objects. He perceives the objects as being real and the shadows as mere copies of reality. At this point, the cognitive thought stage has been attained by the prisoner as he gets the initial glimpse of real objects, and these include the forms. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
In The Matrix, individuals trapped within the Matrix are comparable to the prisoners jailed in the cave. They are only able to see what the machine requires them to see, and therefore believe that they are seeing reality (Fedorova 19). In this regard, they approve what their sense convey to them that exist. Though Neo suspects these to be lies, he is unsure how it works. Moreover, Morpheus who leads the resistance against the Matrix makes Neo a member of the resistance based on the belief that Neo is the only individual capable of defeating the Matrix as foreseen by the Oracle.
In Plato’s allegory, individuals who create shadows are representative of the society’s powerful individuals while the puppet-handlers are mainly machines under the control of Artificial Intelligence. The fake surroundings used by the puppet-handlers is meant to manipulate information received by the prisoners. Although the prisoners have been influenced and fooled through fake reality, this is the same for puppet-handlers living in the artificial world they created.
Neo is living in a world under the control of Matrix agents and can be compared to the prisoner’s in Plato’s allegory who are under the control of form holders. They were able to escape the unreal world into the real world. Through the assistance of Morpheus, Neo realizes that he has lived a life of a slave that is safeguarded by agents and under control of the Matrix. Upon release from the Matrix and the cave, the characters both experience some shock and this is followed by fear upon the initial perception of reality. Neo perceives humans as grown and also hooked on the wires, which is an element that indicates control that is similar to the prisoners who are tied in Plato’s allegory. In the Matrix, Morpheus in addition to the group makes the decision to flee from the Matrix and the agents attack them, and the agents are similar to powerful people in the society as noted in the allegory. The governments and agents are similar and can be compared to the puppets within Plato’s allegory as they all fool the society so as to believe whatever they would like them to believe and denying them the aptitude to perceive the truth.
However, dissimilar to Plato’s prisoners who was able to find his way into freedom devoid of help, Neo gets assistance from Morpheus and is faced with option of remaining in the Matrix by taking the blue pill or knowing the reality by taking the red pill. He opts for the red pill and this enables him to have an experience of the reality and discover that it is amusing in a manner similar the prisoner who discovers an enlightened world after exiting the cave (Wartenberg 12).
Lastly, in the allegory, Plato observed that the prisoner was prone to be confused by what he observed. Upon experiencing the real world, Neo goes into a state of ambiguity. The realization of truth tends to be devastating that he not only throws up but also passes out. Consequently, in the allegory, the prisoner might perceive the real world as illusion and the shadows on the walls as reality (Ford 1). The initial reaction of the prisoner would entail turning around and returning to the state of false reality given his familiarity with the unreal world.
Plato maintains that the free prisoners might have commenced questioning what he had seen and also wondered the origins of the shadow (Wartenberg 18). As such, he must have gained some sense of things being wrong and the desire to know the truth. This can also be observed in the Matrix as Neo is comparable to the prisoner. Morpheus tells him that he is ion the Matrix as he knows something and also realizes that he (Neo) occupies a special places within the society owing to his knowledge. Morpheus then tells him to free his mind and let go the doubts.
In summary, Plato’s allegory has a number of philosophical points and also addresses the role of the society in human lives. Nevertheless, the dissimilarities between the Matrix and the Allegory does not stop them from conveying comparable narrative on the unreliability of the human senses. Neo, at the conclusion of the Matrix, is seen going beyond to bend the physics laws pertaining to the Matrix. This indicates that he managed to move out of the Matrix world. However, he does not appear at two distinct places at the same time even though his aptitude to fly and the destruction of the agent indicates the bending of the physics laws.
Works Cited
Castro, Andrés Fabián Henao. “Slavery in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: Alain Badiou, Jacques Rancière, and the Militant Intellectual from the Global South.” Theatre Survey 58.1 (2017): 86-107.
Fedorova, Kseniia H. “The philosophy and religion of “the matrix”.” (2016): 1-36.
Ford, James L. “Buddhism, Christianity, and The Matrix: the dialectic of myth-making in contemporary cinema.” Journal of Religion & Film 4.2 (2016): 1.
Wartenberg, Thomas E. “On the possibility of cinematic philosophy.” New takes in film- philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2011. 9-24.