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Compare the Matrix to Plato's Republic

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Compare the Matrix to Plato's Republic
Matrix and Plato’s Republic Plato is known to be one of the greatest philosophers of his time, and even still considered to be one of the greatest of today. Many of his works have been used to analyze and answer important philosophical questions and are even used today as the basis of different stories and movies. One example of the use of Plato’s philosophy is the movie The Matrix directed by the Wachowski brothers. The Matrix is a reenactment of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave with some exceptions. In both stories reality is questioned, people are chosen to learn of the truth and everything that is thought to be real is actually not. There are many parallels between the two but there are also some small differences. In Plato 's Cave, the prisoners are bound with chains, hand and foot under bondage. In fact they have been within this very cave since childhood, which much like matrix people are seen as in reality being bound within a pad where they are fed images to keep them in a dreamlike state. They have been in this bondage by virtue since their youth and like the Allegory of the Cave they are completely unaware of the reality of this situation. In regards to the Cave they have become conditioned to the shadows that are displayed upon the wall and do not see the true forms of which the shadow is a mere non-substantial pattern of. In the Matrix, within the person of the virtual world, it is a non-substantial pattern of the world, it is reflective of the real world, and it is a shadow in its form and nature being a simulation of the world at a particular point in history. Like the prisoners in the cave, those who are prisoners in the system of the matrix are held in their calm state by reason of the illusion that stimulates them and tricks them into remaining asleep or rather into being ignorant of the fact that they are prisoners so that the machines can feed from their energy. The shadows on the wall, which are reflective, are to keep


Cited: Lamm, Robert C. The Humanities in Western Culture. Rosemary Bradley. 1996. Print. The Matrix. Dir. Wachowski Bros. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie – Anne Moss. Warner Bros. 1999. DVD.
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