Matrix/Allegory of the Cave

Etleva (Ernesta) Hasa

Professor Steve Wexler

English 436

15 July 2010

A parallel between the “Matrix” and Allegory of the Cave

From “Alice in Wonderland” to Christianity, to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave the “Matrix” takes the viewer through an intricate ride condensed with literary, religious, and philosophical symbolism. Its allusive wealth allows for the engagement of a wide range of viewers as well as for a gamut of interpretations. This variety of allusions and symbols are explicitly and subtly embedded in the movie’s plot and there is room for interpretations done from various theoretical perspectives. Viewed from this lens, one could see how the movie substantially draws on Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Movie’s major character experiences a drastic change in his perception of reality as perceived by him and as it really is. Likewise, Plato's famous cave prisoner is able to comprehend the reality of the cave (where he has been living up to the pivotal walk which leads him out of it) and the real one outside of the cave.

T. Anderson lives in world which is controlled by the matrix agents just like Plato's prisoner lives in a world (cave) controlled by the form holders. They both manage to escape from the world as they know it and come to know the world as it really is: Anderson, with some help from Morpheus, comes to realize that the life he as been leading so far is nothing but the life of a slave, shaped under the control of the Matrix, protected by the agents. Plato's prisoner comes to realize first that the shadows he is looking at are not the truth, they are just shadows cast on the wall by the formholders. He sees the fire and as he follows the path which leads outside of the cave, he sees the sun and everything else illuminated by it. The respective characters, simultaneously experience shock and then a feeling of awe when they first perceive what is real. Neo (the name he assumes after the experience) is able to see how humans are "grown", hooked on wires, an element which symbolizes control just like the chains which tie the prisoners in Plato's cave.

Unlike Plato’s prisoner, who manages to find his way out of the cave without any help from others, Neo is helped (on his way “out”) by Morpheus. This video excerpt shows the moment when Neo is faced with a moment of choice: would he take the blue pill and stay in the world of the matrix (the world of the senses) or take the red pill and start his “tumbling down the rabbit hole” (Matrix, 1999) and come to know reality as it objectively exists. He chooses the red pill (who would resist such a temptation!) thus giving himself the opportunity to experience the world of the mind, the real world and finds it as mind-blowing as Plato’s prisoner finds the illuminated world outside of the cave.

There is no turning back after both experience what is real. However, there is the troublesome need for both characters (Neo and Prisoner) to share the truth with the others. This is another similar point of the “Matrix” and Plato’s
Allegory of the Cave whose major character’s face a conflict as a result of the decision to share the truth. For Plato, the sharing of the truth on behalf of the prisoner ends with his death (the masses usually assume these violent ways when manifesting the discomfort after being asked to get out of their comfort zone of ignorance). There is, however, some hope in the Matrix regarding Neo but the interpretation of that hope (Neo’s survival) might require another theoretical lens.

Works Cited

Plato. Republic. Trans. C.D.C. Reeve. Dickinson Press, Inc. 2004. Print.

Matrix. Dir. Watchowski, Andy and Watchowski, Lana. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. Film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFhn_GUAhGU