Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is an ever-present theme, and the major backdrop that sets up Life is a Dream. Segismundo lives in a state relatively similar to that of the prisoners in the cave. Shackled to a wall, Segismundo remains there – unable to experience the “real” world. Despite King Basil allowing Segismundo to come out of the cave, where he then fulfills Basil’s astrological prophecy, Plato’s Allegory sets up an intriguing problem for us as readers: Even if Segismundo has experienced the cave and “reality”, is he really able to differentiate between the two? Might he live his entire existence (if the story continued) never truly knowing if he is awake or dreaming? In some respects it might not matter.
I’m reminded of a recent Black Mirror episode (spoilers ahead!!) where, after some co-workers are cloned into a spaceship virtual-reality video game, they trap their captor in his own personal version, while the co-workers aboard the spaceship continue exploring the “galaxy” of the video game – along with other spaceships controlled by random people or kids playing the video game. Even though the members of the spaceship are aware that they are existing in a video game, the game is so real and vast that it doesn’t matter to them that they’re not in the “real” world, because they can experience and explore in the infinite game. While that is not an exact corollary to what happens in Calderón de la Barca’s work, it does give us insight on how characters can choose to exist in worlds that are not necessarily what they’re used to. Segismundo grew up in the cave, and is used to its confines. Though he has lived fully in the outside world, he may still have an inkling that everything he sees is not as it seems. There could always be a feeling that he is living everything in a wild dream his brain concocted while shackled to the cave walls. For Segismundo, none of these quandaries may matter him. Simply by being outside the cave, life has taken a turn for the better. The dream land, if Segismundo is to buy into that argument, is one that gives him autonomy over his decisions, at least at the end of the play.
Will, it seems the two of us and some classmates who commented on my previous post have similar thoughts. Specifically- an interest in how characters can lose sense of reality. How can awareness of an illusion plant a permanent seed of doubt in one’s head?
I myself have had dreams that were so realistic, that upon waking, I had to critically question whether or not what I just experienced was real. Some might say- I experienced it, so it was real. Segismundo experienced life outside of the cave, but he does not have the complete perspective necessary to tell whether this actually happened.
I also love your comparison to the Black Mirror episode. The episode, to me, really seemed like the maniacal programmer trapping coworkers in his game was essentially forcing them into a reverse Allegory of the Cave. In other words- they went from the outside world to simply watching shadows on a wall. Their experience is obviously more complete, in that they are exploring a vast universe instead of simply looking at a wall, but what’s the difference? Could I be conditioned to find that a wall of shadows is all the experience I need? I suppose it beats complete darkness.
Will (and Grant),
You make some really interesting points here. Along with Grant, I, too, have experienced dreams that felt so real that I had to snap myself back into “reality” when I woke up. I once actually “died” in a dream, and when I woke up, it took me a couple minutes to register where I was and that I was still alive. My experience felt real, and yet there I was, very much alive. Without the confirmation that I was indeed alive from others to whom I told this story, I can definitely understand the possibilities of the inability to tell dream from reality. We base a lot of our perceptions of the world, and of reality, on other people. When I enter a classroom, I know I must walk around the table, and not through it, because I’ve been given social cues from other people — the table is solid. We, as humans, give each other meaning and awareness of our surroundings. That’s one of the reasons why solitary confinement is so destructive to a person’s mental health — without the affirmation from others that what a person sees is real, everything can blur together to the point of insanity.
I also appreciate the “Black Mirror” reference. “Black Mirror” is a great example of a show that blurs the lines between reality and simulation through a technological lens. Other television shows, such as “Westworld” also play with ideas of consciousness and simulation, and I think it’s something we’re going to have to be ever-more aware of as our technology (and therefore our ability to create more convincing simulations) improves.