The Coveted Shadow In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave
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Fame: The Coveted Shadow In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” he states that people should not focus on fleeting, meaningless shadows but should seek only the truth. I believe that one of the biggest shadows that we face today are celebrities. What must first be distinguished is the difference between a celebrity and someone famous. Famous people are those who take acting and singing seriously because it’s their job. They are the ones who do not want their candid pictures plastered over the front page. They do their jobs because they enjoy it, they don’t do it for fame. Celebrities are people who seek fame for vanity and for attention. They are the media hogs who pull ridiculous stunts for the cameras and who try to get their name in the…show more content… People in ancient times were just as mislead as we are. In the philosopher Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” he addresses the problem using story telling. He begins the story by telling us of a cave full of prisoners who have been there since childhood. They are bound with chains and forced to look at the cave wall upon which shadows play, cast by the fire behind them. The prisoners fully believe that the shadows are real and give each other awards according to who can recognize the shape or pattern of the shadows. Then, one day, one of the prisoners is released and sent outside the cave. At first the prisoner is blinded by the light outside the dark cave and he wants to go back in, but then he comes to realize that the outside world is the whole truth and that the shadows on the wall were nothing compared to the real world. The point of an allegory is that it a made up story used to shed light onto a real issue. If we consider the cave our society then we would be the prisoners. The shadows that dance across our cave wall are the things we believe to be most important and the competitions the prisoners play are but meaningless games with no value. The chains that bind us in the cave are what keep us bound to the false reality and keep us from seeing the light. The light represents what we believe is good. Depending on the setting and the teller of the story the definition of good changes. Plato himself believes that the good is enlightenment and absolute truth. So if celebrities are our shadows that keep us from focusing our attention on the good, what is the good? The good is something that betters the world, something that holds meaning and that does something good for someone. When someone strives to do good they help others and provide a good