The Allegory Of The Cave Analysis

The movie The Matrix has many similar themes and differences to “The Allegory of the Cave”. The Matrix is about a man named Neo, he believes that he’s a normal man with a normal life but then he is contacted by a man named Morpheus. Morpheus exposes Neo to the truth that his world, where he is just regular Tom Anderson is made up. The Matrix, was created by sentient machines that subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Neo is reluctant to accept this truth that his original world, the matrix it is called, does not in fact exist. This relates to the “The Allegory of the Cave”, because Neo lived in ignorance his whole life, not knowing his reality was not the only one.
In The Matrix, Morpheus and his team find in the matrix Neo and help him escape the agents to safety. Morpheus gives Neo a choice, come with him into the real world or live in ignorance. The choice is simplified into blue pill and a red pill. “You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Neo chose to
leave the matrix and start over. He was reborn in a figurative and literal way. Similar to a newborn, he couldn’t use his body in the real world because it was never used before. He was blind and his muscle didn’t work until they fixed his body. In “The Allegory of the Cave”, similarly the slave when leaving the cave was blinded by seeing sunlight for the first time. Neo and the slave had never used their eyes before and it took a great deal of pain and confusion to adapt to the real world.
On the team’s hover craft the Nebuchadnezzar, Morpheus trained Neo to defend himself in the matrix. When Neo was ready, the team planned to go see the oracle back in the matrix to verify that Neo is in fact “the one”. Cypher a member of the crew, already vaguely expressed his feelings about the choice of leaving the matrix, he had an ulterior motive. “I know what you're thinking, cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn't I take the blue pill?” Cypher has betrayed the crew by meeting the agents telling and exposing their plan in exchange for taking him back to the matrix. Cypher believes that ignorance is easier than living real life, he would rather believe the lie than follow orders from Morpheus. This relates to “The Allegory of the Cave” because when the slave enters the light he has doubts, second thoughts about leaving the cave. The light was too much for the slave and he thought of going back because it would be easier to just live in the cave. The slave obviously it wasn’t as extreme as Cypher’s obsession of going back, and obviously the slave wasn’t desperate enough to hurt other people to get there.
Apart from the themes of slavery and enlightenment The Matrix and “The Allegory of the Cave” these two stories have completely different delivery of these themes.
Both Neo and the slave find their enlightenment in different settings, and their moment of enlightenment came when both left the life they were comfortable with. To relate the theme of enlightenment to real life, we don’t live in a dystopian world and we’re lucky not to be trapped in one set of mind. Enlightenment is not just spiritual, it could just be doing the right thing even if it isn’t something you are comfortable with. Gaining confidence in a time of need or changing your philosophies for the better. You may not be able to recognize it when it comes around, but usually enlightenment changes your life for the
better.