ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

ELA 5: The Cave 52 Views


Share It!


Description:

Today we're going to learn about how you're all trapped in caves, waiting for people like Shmoop to drag you out...or so Plato says anyway.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:13

The “Allegory of the Cave” sounds kind of dark and ominous. [Girl reading allegory of the cave book]

00:17

And, well, it should. In fact, this story literally begins in the dark. Bring your flashlight,

00:22

kids.

00:22

In this allegory…or “symbolic story”…Plato uses a long, extended metaphor to talk about [Plato talking about education]

00:28

the importance of education.

00:30

The story starts by telling us about a race of people who have been trapped in a cave

00:34

all their life. Like we said: dark stuff. Not an upper.

00:38

These prisoners are Plato’s metaphor for people who have never had a real education. [Arrows point to prisoners]

00:42

Now, behind these people is a fire.

00:45

And in front of the fire is a wall. A sort of…firewall. That joke will kill with computer

00:50

nerds. [Computer nerd laughing at a joke]

00:50

Anyway, on the fire-side of the wall are people holding up statues of various creatures, almost

00:55

like a puppet show. [Prisoners holding statues of creatures]

00:56

Because of how the prisoners are chained up, they can’t turn around. All they can see

01:01

are the shadows on the wall in front of them. And so they assume these shadows are real

01:05

creatures.

01:05

But then the story starts to get really interesting. Plato says, “Now imagine one of the prisoners

01:11

is released…”

01:13

… and turns around. He would see the statues, and realize that the shadows of the statues [Prisoner looks at statues]

01:17

are not the same as the statues themselves.

01:19

So yeah…this is a metaphor for the first step in the learning process.

01:23

Now…this prisoner thinks that the statues and the fire make up all of the real world.

01:28

But then Plato drops another bomb. He has the freed prisoner dragged out of the cave… [Man drags prisoner out of a cave]

01:33

… and into the sunlight.

01:35

Here, the freed prisoner sees the real objects that the puppet-statues were based on…

01:40

… and the sun in the sky that the fire was representing.

01:43

And now at last he understands that the shadows were only imitations of the statues and the

01:48

statues were only imitations of the actual things. His whole life has been one big scam. [Prisoner walking freely]

01:54

He finally understands what reality really is. Mind: blown.

01:58

In Plato’s extended metaphor, he now represents someone who has received an education.

02:03

Plato believes it’s also his job to return to the cave and help free – or educate – the [Man returns to cave and lights turn on]

02:08

others.

02:08

He’s hinting that this is also the goal of education: to drag other people into the

02:12

sunlight – or, in other words, bring students into the world of understanding. [Man drags boy into classroom]

02:17

And hopefully there will be very little actual dragging involved…

Up Next

ELA 5: How to Spot Bias
3247 Views

Check out the best bias video ever made, courtesy of the most awesome and amazing educational website in existence.

Related Videos

Social Studies 5: Impeachment
1011 Views

No, this isn't a terrible new mint-peach bubble gum flavor...though it does tend to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Social Studies 5: Jamestown
335 Views

Those settlers in Jamestown really should have settled down with all that land-stealing. Tobacco's bad for you anyway.

Social Studies 5: The Birth of Canada
199 Views

Being born out of multiple wars doesn't quite seem to fit the peaceful, polite Canadians we know and love today...oh wait, they were called The Bea...

Social Studies 5: How to Analyze a Political Cartoon
636 Views

Not every cartoon is meant to entertain small children while their mother gets some "Mommy time." There are also political cartoons, which are mean...