The Allegory of the Cave by Plato should not be taken at face value. According to Plato’s text, once we understand what reality is, it is the job of the informed to lead the ignorant people of the world out of their uninformed states of being and into true knowledge. In Plato’s cave theory, which he presents through a potentially fictitious conversation between Socrates and Glaucon, each of the aspects of the story hold a greater meaning in the hopes that the reader will understand the message that Plato is trying to convey – that one’s education of the world can influence them in a positive way, bringing them closer to true knowledge and happiness, or in a negative way, sheltering their thoughts and providing the person with false ideas about their environment. The cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world. The cave shows that people that only make their assumptions about their world through the tangible things that they experience through seeing and hearing are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding. The shadows in the cave represent the perceptions of those who believe the tangible evidence of the world ensures greater knowledge and happiness. If you believe that what you see should be taken as truth, then you are merely seeing a “shadow of the truth.” The game that the prisoners created based on the shadows in the cave to occupy their time represents how people believe that one person can be a “master” when they have knowledge of the unforeseen – in this case, what the next shadow will take the shape of. This “master” becomes a false idol who claims to know all truth, when only God can be knowledge of all that is. Plato is demonstrating that this master does not actually know any truth, and suggesting that it is ridiculous to admire someone like this. The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside