She is also blinded again, this time by the light of the sun.This is a painful experience and she is angry because she is being forced to turn away from everything she has ever known.The prisoner is dragged outside of the cave.Have you ever experienced a painful transformation like the freed prisoner?.What does the fire represent in the allegory and why is experiencing the fire so painful?.Even once the prisoner’s eyes adjust and she is shown the puppets, she prefers the shadows.A prisoner is freed and painfully turns around to be blinded by the light of the fire.Section 2 Inside the Cave and Physically Free: What types of rewards and praises have you or others received that would be analogous to what Plato has in mind here?.What do the shadows, the puppets and statues, and the puppet masters represent in Plato’s allegory?.Is there anything about the allegory that resembles your own education?.They are honored with praise and rewards. Prisoners play games by attempting to identify the shadows and make predictions about which shadow will appear next.Prisoners have never experienced anything other than the shadows.There is a fire and a wall behind them and people are carrying puppets just above the wall to project shadows on the cave wall in front of the prisoners.Prisoners shackled and only able to look straight ahead at the cave wall.

Part II: The Allegory (broken into 5 sections): What does Plato mean by education in this allegory? The aim of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is to illustrate the effects of education on the soul.What is an allegory and how are allegories useful?.Part I: Two preliminary questions to start: Plato’s Objective: illustrate the effects of education, or lack thereof, on the soul (i.e. An Introduction to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

Platos allegory of the cave