The Matrix (Wachowski Bros., 1999) as an enactment of Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave'
Claire Binnion
The Matrix can therefore be seen to enact Plato’s ‘allegory of the cave’ in numerous ways. Just like the people in Plato’s cave the human population are prisoners within the Matrix. Unbeknown to them ‘the world of the real…is a horror of the complete subordination of the human to a vast inhuman apparatus’. (Wark, McKenzie, 1999). It has been taken over by Artificial Intelligence, the contemporary puppet-makers, and is now masked by this computer simulation, known as the Matrix.
Neo discovers that he is merely seeing reflections of the truth, just as the prisoners of Plato’s cave only see shadows of the actual objects. Reflections are an important recurring visual motif throughout the film. We repeatedly see Neo reflected in Morpheus’ glasses and in other surfaces. This constantly reminds the audience that the matrix is itself is a ‘reflected, shadow reality, dismally, biliously…reproducing the “real world” ’, (Ross, Kelley L, 1999). Therefore, the audience possess the same knowledge as the agents.
The idea of not being in control is present in both Plato’s ‘allegory of the cave’ and within The Matrix. Descartes, another rationalist philosopher, suggests the possibility of an ‘evil demon, an all powerful being that is able to deceive us completely’ (Falzon, 2002: p.2 . This is furthered with the ‘brain in the vat’ scenario, where he questions, how do we know that our brains are not floating in vat, hooked up with electrodes to a computer, where signals are fed to us, giving us the experiences we have. This is rather an extreme example of control but does parallel directly to The Matrix.
Falzon’s idea of control through politics in our society, such as propaganda and indoctrination, is not this extreme. Although he still suggests that we too can become like Plato’s prisoners ‘controlled by others because we take the images they present us with for reality’ (Falzon, 2002: p.27). The Truman Show is an example of this kind of control because Christof, the producer, places Truman in this television show since birth. Thus, Truman is brought up on a television set, unaware of the real world. However, because of some of the situations he encounters and sees, and with his logic, Truman is able to work out something isn’t right about the world7 and manages to escape.
‘In ordinary experience, of course, we are perfectly familiar with the apparent as well as the real and can usually tell the difference between them.’ (Falzon, 2002: p.20) For example with the Muller-Lyer illusion it appears the two lines are of different lengths but in fact they are the same length. We realise that ‘what we see is an illusion yet are senses are still deceived.’ (Allen and Smith, 1997: p.79). However, this does invite us to think rather than rely on what is shown to us. Plato and Aristotle acknowledge the idea that vision and reason are closely associated. Aristotle decided we have five senses and Plato gave ‘primacy to sight’. The association of vision and reason has become a persistent bias in Western culture. However, what we see should not be taken for granted. In order to grasp what is real we need to ‘break free from dependence and use reason alone’, (Falzon, 2002: p.4).
In Plato’s ‘allegory of the cave’ he hypothesises about one of the prisoners escaping. With the idea of breaking free of dependence, it is questionable whether the prisoners restraints are in fact real or in their minds. They have been staring at this wall since birth and therefore they have become dependant on the shadows they see before them. It brings upon the question of choice, whether or not they want to see if there is anything more than this existence.
This parallels with The Matrix as Neo is in fact asked to make a choice between the blue pill, which will erase his memory, and the red pill which will show him ‘how deep the rabbit hole really goes.’ This reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland heightens the audiences’ expectations of what the Matrix is. It also allies the Matrix with Wonderland, suggesting that there is more than meets the eye for both Neo and Alice.
Neo decides to take the red pill and is literally awakened in a pod, where tubes are leading from all parts of his body. He does not know what is real or even if this is all an elaborate nightmare. This moment in the film is an enactment of Plato’s hypothesis of a man being freed from the cave. The freed prisoner would be compelled to look around and discover his true surroundings. He would realise that the images that he has been looking at are merely shadows reflected on to the wall in front of him. In each of these scenarios the realization of true existence would leave them ‘bewildered and disorientated, and (they) would much rather be left in their original state’ (Falzon, 2002: p. 19-20).
As well as enduring psychological torture the freed man would also suffer physical pain. In The Republic Plato suggests that ‘he will suffer sharp pain; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows’. He would be memorised by what he is now envisaging, and many even believe that what he is now seeing is an illusion, and his primitive state is the real world.
In The Matrix, Neo encounters a similar experience to that of the freed man in Plato’s cave. Just like the freed man Neo’s eyes are sore. He asks Morpheus why this is and his reply is ‘you’ve never used them before’. This parallels directly to Plato’s allegory, as although the freed man has used his eyes before, he has not used them to great extent. Also, when Morpheus shows him ‘the dessert of the real’ he exclaims ‘let me out, let me out, I want out!’ He is then sick and passes out in disbelief. Neo then asks ‘ I can’t go back can I?’ Morpheus’ reply is ‘No, but if you could would you want to?’
Plato furthers his hypothesis of the freed man and discusses what would happen when he would leave the cave. He states that he will only be able to see shadows reflected by the sun at first, just like he could only see the shadows reflected by the fire. He would then grow accustomed to the reflections of people in water, thus he is still only able to make out a distorted image of the true reality. Finally he will be able to distinguish objects themselves. The last thing he would see is the sun and would no longer see ‘mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is’ (Plato: Allegory of the Cave). Plato argues that at this point he has reached ‘philosophical enlightenment’ (Falzon, 2002: p.4) Similar to the freed prisoner, Neo also becomes enlightened when he finally accepts the truth of the Matrix and eventually realises that he is ‘The One’.
A key scene in Neo’s realisation is when he visits the Oracle. She has the Latin phrase ‘Temet Nosce’ written above her kitchen door, meaning ‘know thyself’. This classic allusion makes us question our existence like Descartes does. Descartes uses the example of a man sitting by a fire, in his dressing gown holding a piece of paper. He raises the question ‘how does he know that he is sitting by the fire, writing, and not asleep, in bed’ (Falzon, 2002: p.26). Basically, how can we be sure whether we are awake or still dreaming? There are references within The Matrix that link this idea of a dream world. Ironically, Morpheus’ name means God of dreams or sleep, and it is he who awakens Neo from the Matrix. Also Neo asks, ‘have you ever had that feeling where you are not sure you are awake or still dreaming?’ and later Morpheus echoes this when he asks ‘have you ever had a dream Neo that you were so sure was real’. Falzon suggest that if we try and find a test to discover whether we are awake or not, e.g. pinching yourself, ‘the problem is that any test we might come up with…might itself be part of our dream’ (p.27).
If we look at The Matrix in the sense of a dream we can then compare it to the film Vanilla Sky. In this Tom Cruises character David Aames is in a ‘lucid dream’, a dream meant to contain Aames’ perfect world. However, as within The Matrix when trying to create a perfect world there are flaws in the system. Aames’ dream starts to turn into a nightmare and by the end of the film he realises the truth, just as Neo does in The Matrix. Now he is ‘enlightened’ and no longer wishes to remain in this fake world, choosing to return to the real world instead. This also parallels with Neo when he becomes enlightened.
Assuming that Plato’s theory of enlightenment is true, when the freed man reaches this he would want to share his experience with others. However, he would not want to return to his original state, ‘he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner.’ (‘Dew’). On returning to the cave he would begin to explain to the other prisoners the world outside. However, it would be extremely difficult for him to explain the real world and ‘in many ways, he would not be understood or believed no matter what he said’ (‘Dew’). John Hyman suggests that you cannot fully understand an a visual experience without seeing it, stating that ‘we cannot usually experience an activity…without actually doing it’ (Allen and Murray, 1997: p. 80). In The Matrix this theory is supported when Morpheus says ‘ you cannot be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself’.
The prisoners would reject the freed man’s notions and would mock him. However, the freed man would just pity this mockery because he now knows the truth and if he were to laugh at them this would be more worth while as the real world is a far better place compared to their existence. This is highlighted in The Republic where it says,
‘…if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den.’
In the document 'Plato's Allegory Of The Cave: A Springboard For The Matrix' it is suggested that the prisoners would ‘demonstrate hostility’ towards the free man and would even contemplate murder in order to fight for their cave. Although in The Matrix no one is told the truth, Morpheus does express his fears that ‘most of these people are not ready to be unplugged’ and perhaps it is likely that in the forthcoming sequels there might be in fact a resistance against ‘The Resistance’.
However, hostility is shown within The Matrix by the Judas figure, Cypher. Cypher believes Morpheus tricked him into the real world. He is fed up with a life of fighting, what seems to him like, an endless and pointless battle, where they do not obtain even the simplest humanistic pleasure of decent food. In Plato’s allegory the freed man pity’s those trapped in the cave as the world beyond is suggested to be far better. Although, in The Matrix it is questionable whether the real world is better than the computer simulation and the question of ‘whether there really is any difference between virtual reality and physical reality’ (Silver, Lee M) is highlighted by Cypher. Is Cypher, therefore, wrong in wanting to go back to somewhere that he has happy memories?
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) traced back to Plato, and then further back to the Hindu and Buddhist " Maya "
