The Allegory Of The Cave vs The Matrix - Free Essay Example

The allegory of the cave and the matrix are both presented with many themes, some examples of themes in the two are; what is real, the perception of reality, the acceptance of truth, and both worlds are controlled by a greater power. One of the themes that i think is the most important is the perception of reality. In the allegory of the cave the prisoners are blinded from the true reality, there shown images and objects without knowing what they are. In the matrix Neo was born into the world of illusions, not knowing the different worlds, hes trapped in a reality created by a computer program that was created by machines that took over the planet. He was believing everything he saw not knowing the different life. They both are shown the fake world to create a way to control what they see. They believe this is really true life, an example of this is; now imagine that all along this low wall people are carrying all sorts of things that reach up higher than the wall: statues and other carvings made of stone or wood and many other artifacts that people have made. As you would expect, some are talking to each other and some are silent. This proves there being fed with ideas not knowing whats real and whats not forc ing them to believe everything there shown is true reality. Another theme that is similar between the two is the acceptance of truth. In the allegory of the cave one of the prisoners escape exposing him to the real world one of the prisoners was unchained and forced to stand up suddenly, to turn around, to walk, and to look up toward the light in this case the prisoner would be able to do this only with pain and because of the flickering brightness, he would be unable to look at those things whose shadows he previously saw. this shows he wasnt able to see anything, this also shows hes never been able to see light like this, as hes been locked away in a cave only being shown specific things, this is the first time he was seeing true light. Lastly one other important theme was both worlds are controlled but a greater power. Neos world is controlled by the matrix while platos world is controlled by the holders. They both escape from the world as they know it and come to really as it really is. Neo realizes that his life is nothing but a slave, under the control of the matrix while its protected by its agents. The prisoner in platos realizes the shadows hes looking at are not true and there being casted by the holders as they chose. For example he sees the fire in the cave but when he gets outside he sees the sun and everything from the cave is eliminated as he wont be able to see those images in the cave again. In the long run the matrix and the allegory of the cave have multiple similarities that are seen between the two, the themes are very similar for example the perception of reality this is also seen in the real world today while we do not know if something is truly happening. I think we see this on a day to day basis for example the different languages people speak, things are the named the same but sometimes they mean something different.