Allegory Of The Cave

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Allegory Writing 101”

In this activity, students will use critical thinking and creative intelligence to develop their own original allegory on a topic of their choice.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is one of the most famous examples of a philosophical allegory or parable. By framing his point as an allegory, Plato was able to present a complex idea in a more approachable and relatable way. For this activity, you will write an original allegory or parable to illustrate a philosophical idea you find interesting. As you work on their allegory, be sure to take the following considerations into account:

• What is the message the allegory is trying to make? Why is this message important?
• What are the important ideas or themes behind your message? What symbols can you use to make those abstract ideas more approachable and/or easier to understand?
• How can you translate your message into a story that makes sense but is also interesting and memorable?

After you have written your allegory, present it to the class. Your presentation should prompt discussions on Plato’s use of allegory and the advantages of using allegory to convey important messages.

Teaching Suggestion: These allegories need not be long. As students work on their allegories, make sure they are familiar with the literary devices that commonly feature in allegories—devices such as metaphor, symbolism, and personification. Students should try to incorporate these literary devices into their own allegories.

Differentiation Suggestion: To encourage student agency and for students with artistic or musical interests and/or intelligences, consider allowing alternative approaches to the assignment such as creating a visual representation or a song that presents a lesson in allegorical or symbolic terms. Students can give a brief description of their message and approach while presenting their work to the class. This activity connects to the theme of Enlightenment.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.  

1. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” uses prisoners trapped in a cave to illustrate ignorance.

• To what extent does Plato present ignorance as something as imposed on others by external factors, and to what extent is ignorance a matter of will? (topic sentence)
• Using specific passages from the text, discuss what the Socrates of the dialogue thinks about ignorance and people’s relationship to ignorance.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on the causes—and cures—of ignorance.

2. Many have compared the shadow images seen by the prisoners in the cave to modern television or movies, where people look at an image instead of a true object or person.

• In what way are the shadow images of Plato’s allegory like cinema or other visual arts? (topic sentence)
• Compare and contrast the shadow images from “The Allegory of the Cave” with modern cinema or visual arts, making sure to cite passages from the text.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, consider what Plato might think about movies or television considering your interpretation of the shadow images he describes in his “Allegory.”

3. In discussing the Form of Goodness, Plato distinguishes between knowledge and wisdom.

• What are knowledge and wisdom, and how are they different? (topic sentence)
• Cite evidence from the text to explain the roles knowledge and wisdom play in beholding the Form of Goodness.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on whether Plato prioritizes knowledge or wisdom in his allegory.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Toward the end of his discussion of the allegory, Socrates reflects that gaining knowledge and wisdom could be harmful, as knowledge can be used for evil as well as good: “Wisdom, it seems, is certainly the virtue of some diviner faculty, which never loses its power, though its use for good or harm depends on the direction towards which it is turned.” (Paragraph 39) What does Socrates mean by this? Citing other quotes from the text, expand on the idea that knowledge can be harmful. How does this idea connect to the allegory presented by Socrates earlier?

2. Plato’s allegory is full of symbols, including fire, chains, and, of course, the cave itself. Choose one of the symbols Plato uses in the allegory and analyze it. How does this symbol evolve and/or change in meaning as the allegory progresses? What do we learn about this symbol at the end? Why do you think Plato decided to use this specific symbol?

3. Explaining the meaning of the “Allegory of the Cave,” Socrates discusses the Form of Goodness, revealing that the journey of the freed prisoner represents the difficulty of attaining the Form of Goodness. What are the Forms? Do some research on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and other reputable sources to learn more about the role of the Forms in Plato’s philosophy. Why are the Forms so important? How do the Forms, specifically the Form of Goodness, connect to “The Allegory of the Cave”?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Who is Glaucon?

A) Plato’s alias in the dialogue

B) Socrates’ interlocutor in the dialogue

C) The name of the freed prisoner

D) Socrates’ father

2. What initially happens to the prisoner when he looks at the fire?

A) Nothing happens at all.

B) He is too dazzled to make anything out.

C) He goes blind.

D) He tries to touch it.

3. Why would it be better to accustom the prisoner to the daylight slowly?

A) So that he does not become overwhelmed

B) So that the light will have time to change as well

C) So that he has time to enjoy himself

D) So that the authorities cannot realize he has escaped his prison

4. What would happen to the freed prisoner when he returned to the dark cave?

A) He would forget everything he saw outside.

B) He would immediately reacclimate to the darkness.

C) He would have a hard time seeing in the darkness.

D) He would be happy to be home again.

5. What would motivate the other prisoners to kill the one prisoner who escaped and tried to tell them what he saw outside? 

A) They would try him for an unauthorized escape and commit an execution.

B) They would murder him because he was now a contaminated outsider.  

C) They would commit revenge because he did not help them escape.

D) They would revolt because he challenged their notion of reality.

6. What does the outside world represent in the allegory?

A) The “intelligible” realm of the Forms

B) The divine sun

C) The realm of the gods

D) The visual arts

7. How does Plato’s use of dialogue contribute to his purpose in writing “The Allegory of the Cave”?

A) It makes it easier for the audience to remember and pass down through oral tradition.

B) It allows it to be performed during Greek dramatic festivals.

C) It invites the reader to interact with the philosophical questions.

D) It shows his devotion to the gods by invoking a religious incantation.  

8. Which of the following quotes best illustrates that anybody can learn the Form of Goodness?

A) “In the world of knowledge, the last thing to be perceived and only with great difficulty is the essential Form of Goodness.” (Paragraph 31)

B) “[…] the soul of every man does possess the power of learning the truth and the organ to see it with.” (Paragraph 37)

C) “The ascent to see the things in the upper world you may take as standing for the upward journey of the soul into the region of the intelligible.” (Paragraph 31)

D) “The life of true philosophy is the only one that looks down upon the offices of state.” (Paragraph 53)

9. Why must a good leader have not only wisdom but responsibility too?

A) Because the gods only give responsibility to those who are destined to rule

B) Because wisdom alone can be used for good but also for evil

C) Because responsibility is what makes somebody a good warrior

D) Because those who have wisdom but no responsibility are not interested in ruling

10. Why should rulers find the act of ruling to be a burden?

A) Because discomfort will make them braver

B) Because discomfort will make them more just

C) Because ruling purely for love of power leads to conflict

D) Because suffering will make others admire them and obey them

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Why do the prisoners in the cave regard the shadow images as the true objects of existence?

2. Why must a good ruler have knowledge of the Form of Goodness?