Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is a story of how the soul moves toward enlightenment. The allegory begins with prisoners in a cave that eventually break free to see the world and acquire great knowledge. The allegory has eight stages, beginning with belief and ending in cognition of the world of forms. Some prisoners will stay in the cave and others will venture out. In this paper I will examine how the lead character of The Truman Show, experiences his own cave within the made for television world that he lives in.

First of all, “Plato realizes that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc., without (so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms” (Cohen, Marc. “The Allegory of the Cave”) Plato explains this with his eight stages of cognition. The first level is Belief. This is when the prisoners are strapped down in chairs staring at shadows being made by creatures dancing in front of a fire behind them. This is all they know; these shadows are the prisoners’ reality. ( Halsted notes October 6, 2003) Plato’s calls this common sense. The Second stage is Recognition. The prisoners now break their chains and headgear and turn to see t

he creatures that are walking in front of the fire. Now they realize that everything they do has been fake. Many will turn back now, out of the fear of the unknown, but some may decide to venture out and leave the cave. (Grube, G.M.A., Plato Republic) This is the third stage, Awareness, the prisoners leave the comfort of the cave to go into the sunlight of the world. Plato sees this as a person

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The Truman Show is a movie staring Jim Carey. In the movie the lead character was born into and has lived his entire life on an enormous television set. Every thing around him is controlled and all the other people in his world are actors. His life represents the first stage of the cave; he only knows what he is told. As the director of this television show states it, “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.” Truman’s second stage of the allegory is recognition, when he first realizes something is wrong when a light falls from the ‘sky’ and leaves a white space in the blue

Some topics in this essay:
Jim Carey, Plato Republic, Allegory Cave, Cave” Plato, James Halsted, Forms Plato’s, Story Philosophy, Halsted October, october 6 2003, 6 2003, october 6, halsted notes, notes october, notes october 6, halsted notes october, Cohen Marc, world forms, cognition world forms, fourth level, fifth level, front fire, cognition world, lead character,