Comparing Plato's Allegory Of The Cave And The Matrix

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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and The Matrix, a 1999 science fiction film, both entail two realities; one is real while the second is falsely perceived. This false sense of perception that the main characters are placed in leads to the same metaphysical question: “What is reality?” Although distinguished by the form in which these characters are removed from reality and the gravity to which their knowledge is hindered by this separation, both the prisoner in the cave and Neo, trapped in the Matrix, are deceived by their senses. Both the prisoner and Neo rely on their familiar senses to judge what is real and what is not, however, once removed from this reality, their perception changes drastically. Considering The Matrix as a modern interpretation of Plato’s classic work, one can notice similarities in the characteristics of the plot as well as the resolution. Both of these storylines show us how we must perceive our own reality and how we must distinguish between what is real and what we falsely perceive as the truth. In both contexts, they share many similar characteristics relating to the characters interpretation of reality. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave,…show more content…
Some differences can be discerned however. As the prisoner is able to find his way out of the cave on his own and does not ask the help of anyone to escape, Neo is helped by his aid Morpheus. These stories also differ in the type of reality they reveal. In Plato’s work, the reality that the prisoners gain of a reality outside of the cave is more philosophical. As for The Matrix which demonstrates more of a modern paranoia that humans have towards technology and machinery. Their level of knowledge towards their new realties is also at a different level, as humans in the modern world have many forms of communication, whereas those in the cave could not communicate nor extract knowledge from other fountains of

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