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The Relationship Between Literature and Society

Plato demands that the arts must be strictly censored due to his belief that art's purpose is to shape character and an ideal society must instead shape its citizens through education and training. To understand Plato's disregard for art, it's crucial to first understand what Plato believes is real. Plato believes in a universal concept that art is an imitation of an ideal form. Plato disregards art as a form of literature due to the lack of authenticity. Plato views art as an ultimate threat to society not only because it attempts to shape a character and take away society's role, but also because he believes that artists have the ability to evoke emotions through art and eventually creates action. This creates a nature of illusions that threaten society. Plato refers to this as his theory of Mimesis, or imitation. Plato discusses his theory of mimesis in his "Allegory of the Cave" in Book VII of The Republic. The allegory tells of prisoners being chained to a wall in a dark cave. Behind the prisoners is a high wall and a fire. Between the wall and the fire is a group of actors holding stick puppets. The prisoners can only see the shadows cast by the puppets, therefore their entire reality is based on these shadows. Plato argues, if the prisoners were released, they would eventually realize these puppets were only shadows of a far greater reality. Once released, the prisoners will then come to see reality for what it truly is mere copies of reality itself. For Plato, these shadows represent images of truth and serve as illusionary representations of truth. Plato's allegory then represents society's inability to see larger truths. Plato believes that art will manipulate the character of humans and will not allow the norms of society to shape people. He also believes that art is a tool of manipulation that will eventually lead people to only see imitations and not the real truths of the world.


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