The Allegory of the Cave

In Book 7 of the Republic, Plato offers his most famous image. Prisoners are chained in a cave from birth, facing a wall. Behind them, people carry objects in front of a fire, casting shadows the prisoners take to be reality. One prisoner is freed, painfully turns to see the fire and objects, and is dragged up into the sunlight, where he is at first dazzled but finally sees real things and the sun itself.

Returning to free the others, he cannot see well in the dark, and the prisoners mock him and would kill him if they could. The allegory illustrates education as a turning of the whole soul from appearances toward truth. It also comments on politics: those who have seen the Good have a duty to return and govern. The prisoners' hostility recalls the fate of Socrates. Readers continue to apply the image to propaganda, media and illusion.