This sentence contributes to the harsh tone indicated towards being in the cave for long amounts of time because one can feel the sun when it suddenly reflects into their eyes, causing them to turn away due to their burning eyes. An example of imagery in the allegory proclaims 'And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take refuge in the objects of vision which he can see'. Throughout the allegory, sensory information is dispersed to elaborate the setting.

By listening to or reading Socrates' words, the intended effect of his allegory is to provoke an opinion towards what is the actual truth in a person's mind. Glaucon himself sounds so deep in thought, he cannot utter more than a 'very likely', 'I agree', or 'very true' to Socrates. By continuously asking Glaucon questions, Socrates is sparking a somewhat confused and thoughtful reaction. As Socrates speaks, he has a questioning, curious and wise tone towards Glaucon, he speaks as if he does not even know the truth himself.

In other words, people allow themselves to believe what they would like to believe.

Socrates' purpose in expressing the allegory is to show how the human race may not always see the truth but rather convince themselves that what they see is the truth. The Philosopher Socrates explicates his allegory of great curiosity to Glaucon, a man of whom Socrates shares his wealth of wisdom with. What if every known thing in the world turned out to be misguided? What if people within the world learned ways of life and adapted to environments only to find out that it was all a lie? In ' The Allegory of the Cave' from Plato's ' The Republic', the same questions were considered and analyzed by Socrates, the speaker of the story.

Allegory of the cave quotes