Plato Assassin's Greed

Great Essays
Reading Report II “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” This is the great philosophy of the Assassin’s Order in Ubisoft’s critically acclaimed video game series, Assassin’s Creed. It quickly amassed a large following due to its stunning visuals, advanced game engine, and controversial Da Vinci Code-esk narrative. Like many works of historical fiction, this narrative revolves around the revelation of a grand truth. In the game, an organization called Abstergo Industries discovers that any one human’s DNA carries the cognitive information of every person in that human’s ancestry. With this principle in mind, they develop a machine that they call, the Animus. With it, a person can relive the memories of an ancestor. The player experiences …show more content…
What would happen if one of the slaves were to suddenly be set free? What would happen when that person sees how the slaveholders create shadows? What would happen if that person escapes the cave and enters the real world? Well, Plato answers those questions for us. At first, Plato believes that the person would be confused. He would stubbornly reject the fact that his reality is only a fallacy, but as time goes on he would soon learn to see the light, both literally and figuratively. After experiencing the sun, real dogs, and real trees, he would find his way back to the cave with the purpose of trying to enlighten the other slaves. However, our hero’s eyes can no longer function in the darkness. He does not see the same way the other slaves do. Seeing that he is having trouble adjusting to the way they have lived their whole lives, the others think he was harmed by whatever is beyond the cave. They think he’s gone mad. They violently react to his radical ideas and kill him.
Though not having the exact same ending, this story very much mirrors what the protagonists of the Assassin’s Creed franchise faced and would face while uncovering truths. Even though both are fictional and both contain scenarios that escalate far beyond that of everyday life, I find the message to be hauntingly true throughout actual history. Progress has always been halted by stubbornness and ignorance, and often times it seems as if there are people who benefit by keeping the masses stubborn and ignorant. When people break free of those bonds, they face criticism from those still

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In Plato's text, the prisoners in the cave are living a different perspective of reality. Once a prisoner is freed, the knowledge of another world changes his reality. The individual experiences a different perspective of reality that he is not accustom to. The prisoner is then given this perspective and goes back to his previous world in the cave; however, now he is weaker and considered more of a laughing stock in that society. By simply coming back to his previous world, the prisoner…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    He describes the pursuit of Truth through the Allegory of the Cave. In this allegory, there exist a few prisoners who are shackled to the wall within a cave of darkness. The only sources of light within the cave is a fire in the middle, and the light that peers through the entrance, which is a distance away from the fettered individuals. Trapped within the dark confines of the cave, the prisoners can only see their shadows on the wall as a result of the fire in front of them. Therefore, their knowledge of reality is limited only to what they see through their five senses; they assume that what they see is true.…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his writing, Plato asks everyone to imagine humans as prisoners kept from childhood in a deep, dark cave. They have chains around their necks to keep them facing forward while a fire from behind them projects shadows on the wall in front of them. These shadows act as the only real thing that they have ever come across (Plato). After one prisoner is set free and able to turn around, he becomes very confused of what is behind him. The prisoner is at a loss since he cannot differentiate between the reality that was unexpectedly presented to him and the one he had grown up with.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    His mind is opened at such a beautiful world it is, outside the cave. However, when he comes back into the cave, his group members laugh at his stories and don't believe what he says, because they have never experienced something outside the cave. The man now wishes he can go back to the outside world, instead of being in the cave. This can directly be compared to the Brahmin and the house keeper in Voltaire's "Good Brahmin". The Brahmin is a very well educated man, who is very learned, consequently, he is miserable because he is unable to answer life's toughest questions.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As a reaction he looks to the shadows of any objects near him and relies on them to guide him in this new alien-like world. He eventually is able to see everything in this new world from the shinning sun to the trees surrounding him. As he stays longer he understands how the seasons work and how everything in front of him works. He eventually returns to the cave and tells his group of the things he has witnessed outside the cave. The cave dwellers would become deeply upset with the escaped prisoner and not believe him as Socrates states, “Men would say of him that he left and returned without his eyes and that it was better not even to think of leaving” (P.85).…

    • 1730 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, just like the prisoners, I too was trapped in a “cave” of misunderstanding, my focus was only towards what was in front of me and nothing else. I personally believed that the way I defined my shadows were the right way, but Plato opened my eyes and made me realize that everything is not what it seems. It made me want to change my perspective, as well as, keeping an open mind on what I do not quite…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They have the power to challenge their limit on their free will which is escaping the cave to see the real world. Although the idea of the unknown when escaping, the prisoner exhibit that he can go beyond the limits of his freedom by escaping. One of the prisoner who did a notable act to what the other prisoner may think he shouldn’t have done, showcased his freedom to make his own decisions. This prisoner who expresses his free will by making a decision that he was looked upon, actually benefited him, because he got to see a different side of the world that the other prisoner didn’t get to see. The author proclaimed that "At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; 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; "(Plato 10)…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Plato’s Allegory of the Cave brings to fore the ramifications of experiencing life through a restricted lens. The story paints a decidedly bleak portrait of human beings trapped within the confines of a cave since birth, where the shadows of outsiders casted upon the walls craft their perception of reality. One of the men eventually manages to break free, and ventures out from his two-dimensional prison and into the real world; as he adjusts to this new environment, he realizes that the truth that he had known for his life differed significantly from the real truth. Eager to share this discovery, he returns to the cave and attempts to explain his observations, only to be met with denial and death threats. Despite the story’s age, its relevance…

    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Malcolm X, a great man who inspired many people, was not always an educated man. He had his struggles and inspirations like many other people, but what he did to overcome his struggles, and his self-driven attitude, made him an inspiration to others. Plato was a great philosopher who used inspirational and elaborate methods to describe perseverance. In addition, Plato explains how to pursue difficult obstacles in life to achieve enlightenment. In order to overcome challenges in life, one must be dedicated and have self-driven aspirations, because life is not a hand out, one must work hard for what they wish to obtain.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Plato's Cave Arguments

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Introduction: In this paper, I will argue that are like the prisoners in Plato's Allegory of The Cave. To make this argument, I will first out the Allegory of The Cave. Second, I will argue that we are like the prisoners about the fact that what we see is selected for us, much like the people in Plato's trench picking which figurines they will hold up.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Allegory of The Cave, Plato depicts a cave where prisoners are strapped into chairs facing a wall. There is a fire burning behind them, and in front of the fire there are puppets which throw shadows on the wall. The shadows on the wall are the prisoners reality, and they have no desire to leave because they know nothing better. If a prisoner were to escape from the chair, he would see the fire and it would hurt his eyes. So he would turn back to the shadows that are easy for him to look at.…

    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners are chained in darkness in a cave. They see only shadows, which they take for reality. One prisoner is freed from his chains, advances up the steep slope and walks into the sunlight where he sees the true source of heat and light. He remembers his friends in the cave and returns to tell them off he has discovered outside but prisoners did not believe him and but rather threaten him. According to Ozmon and Craver (2008), people live in "a cave of shadows and illusions, chained to our ignorance and apathy" (p. 8).…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Plato suggests that one’s senses are limited and imperfect; what one senses and what actually exists do not always coincide. While the life the prisoners experienced was real, it was not an accurate representation of reality or the world outside of the cave. The purpose of this allegory is to provoke a pursuit of an accurate representation of…

    • 1775 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The darkness of the cave was Ignorance in physical form, this lead the prisoners to believe that the shadows were real…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Plato’s “ Allegory of the Cave,” Plato describes the cave as very dark with chained prisoners in front of a fire observing shadow of things. The shadows are the only “reality” they know. Outside the cave, there is “light” and the “truth”. A prisoner in the cave wanted freedom. But the prisoners could not get out.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays