Analysis of Plato's Allegory of the Cave

The book is authored in the allegory form, that is, it contains two meaning levels, the literal meaning as well as the allegorical meanings, also defined as symbolic meaning. However, one has to understand the setting of the book and the community addressed to be able to get the allegorical meaning of the text. The book is divided into four major parts, the cave and the shadows, the game, the escape, as well as, the return which all have a symbolic meaning and representation in our daily lives. Therefore, the discussion in this context aims at identifying and describing the four major parts concerning the relevance their relevance in the daily lives. The first part, the cave and the shadows Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine of a cave with human prisoners who have spent their lifetime inside, tied in a manner that they cannot move and they can only look at the wall in front of them.

The community today has also been doomed by the way they have been brought up. They have succumbed to routine and no one is willing to try out newer things. In the escape, Plato clearly displays the dumbness and blindness of the society using a brave and determined prisoner who bravely climbs out of the cave to experience the real world, and he successfully discovers there is more to their daily shadow visions. In comparison to the cave, the prisoner views his current sight as more real than the shadows were. Plato’s use of this scene is much relevant in describing the nature of human beings. The prisoners will threaten to kill him if he decides to set them free.