Comparison between “The Matrix” and Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

“The Matrix” appears to be a movie of superb cinematography, gravity defying stunts, and an enjoyable, action-filled plot; however, through further analysis, it becomes apparent that it also explicitly parallels Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. In both works, the hero–the chosen, enlightened one–experiences three stages: captivity, enlightenment, and a newfound sense of responsibility.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, people have been kept as prisoners in a cave since birth; there they are held captive–tied up and unable to move their head side-to-side. On the cave wall in front of them, they see shadows of people and animals, made by the actions of “puppeteers” behind them, who utilize light from a fire to deceive their prisoners. Because this is all they have ever known, this “shadowed” world is perceived as reality by the prisoners. In the same way, every-day society–lawyers, office buildings, relationships–is all fake in “The Matrix”. This illusion, known as the matrix, is placed into humans’ minds to keep them relatively satisfied while they are being held captive by alien machines (modern-day puppeteers), which use human energy to power their AI systems. Both the “soon-to-be-enlightened” prisoner and Neo are tricked into believing that what they sense–what they hear, see, smell, touch, and taste–is real.

In his allegory, Plato reveals that one prisoner, a philosopher type, would eventually escape from the cave into the real world: “When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities…He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world.” In “The Matrix”, Neo is this prisoner; he takes the red pill and wakes up in a slimy pod, seeing the reality of human existence (that humans are grown by machines for energy). Soon, Neo, like the freed man from Plato’s allegory, realizes the truth; however, he does so after suffering from acute physical pain (he questions why his eyes hurt and throws up and passes out). This fact symbolizes rebirth, the revealing of the true reality and the realization of former, sick imprisonment.

Eventually, Plato contends, the freed prisoner from his allegory would set aside his disgust in going back into the cave and actually do so for the sake of the prisoners; he would take the responsibility of revealing to the rest of the prisoners that their reality is fake, and that a higher truth–which he has found–exists. Likewise, Neo, the archetypal hero, accepts his task as “the one” and sets out to free humans from their machine-dominated existence. We see this in the last scene, where he is informing someone, via a phone booth, of the truth.

“The Matrix” brings to life–via awesome spectacles and special effects–Plato’s Allegory of the Cave; however, it is more than a mere direct adaptation, where the cave is the matrix and the freed prisoner is Neo. Rather, it specifically incorporates and personalizes the hero’s journey by having Neo move from his fantasy world (where he is held captive) into a realization of the truth, and then by giving him the necessary means and desire to spread the news to others (a prominent Christ-like archetype seen in the series). In this small sense, it is different from Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”; nevertheless, the movie is a striking parallel to Plato’s allegory, both symbolically and thematically.