In a previous lecture, students were introduced to Plato’s Republic. In book VII of it, the allegory of the cave was described. This allegory defines knowledge -- that it is unlimited, but we only know what we know based on the social experiences we are exposed to.
My favorite musical of all time is The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is a dark musical, where the main character, the Phantom, is hidden from the rest of world -- literally behind a face mask, as well as living beneath the Opera Populaire theater. The Phantom has a minimal concept of reality and is very limited in social experience. He channels most of his interactions with people into violence and murder and doesn’t know what true love is, since “the world showed no compassion to [him].”
The Phantom’s love interest, Christine Daae, helps him realize that there really is love and compassion in the world. Christine is his musical muse -- the center of the musicals that he composes. Throughout the musical, the Phantom tries to lure her in with his music and constantly imagines what it would be like to be with her. He thinks he knows what it would be like, but he does not truly understand this concept until she kisses him. One kiss from her opens his eyes to a world that does have compassion in it. His limited knowledge of the world broadened to a more universal one -- which includes love. His world is changed for the better. He finally experiences compassion, which -- before for him -- was impossible to attain. He is caught off guard by Christine’s kiss, which sends new feelings of excitement, confusion, and bewilderment within him.
Love isn’t a physical object. It can only be perceived through the senses. But it’s the senses that help put understanding of the world into perspective. In Plato’s Republic, those people chained in the cave only saw moving shadows and had no idea what was outside the cave. Like I described above, the Phantom is in the same position as these chained people. He lives in a dark chamber, with no personal contact and no sense of society.
Plato’s allegory of the cave teaches a valuable life lesson about knowledge that I think everyone should realize. As students at the University of Michigan, we are fortunate to be blessed by an abundance of knowledge in several forms -- people, books, technology, architecture. But like the Phantom, we can always gain more social experience if we want to be more knowledgeable. Plato has me looking at my favorite musical in a different way, which helps better explain why the Phantom is the way he is. He should not be seen as a harmful monster; rather, he is that way because of the isolated life he lives. He is capable of love, which was introduced to him by Christine.
Cool post!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you pointed out that love is a new experience for the Phantom. It's interesting that the Phantom can embrace this new knowledge that he is exposed to. Unlike the figures in Plato's Allegory who reject the new reality. Is this because love is a good experience for the Phantom? Plato didn't make a distinction between what kind of experiences we would reject and accept but maybe the Phantom shows us that Plato should have done that.
Definitely an original take on the allegory! I like it; I can definitely tell you took your time, and really broke the story down. I like the scene you posted as well, it really gives readers a place to think about the post. We can see a setting, and characters, and really experience a part of the story. And because we can see that part of the story, it makes relating it to the allegory that much easier. Taking the rest of the play into account, it follows some of the same themes of the allegory as well. The phantom has his change, but the outside world cannot accept that, and he is turned away yet again. Very similar to the person who comes back into the cave from outside to tell of what he has seen, and is turned away. Good post! I enjoyed it, and I appreciate the interesting topic!
ReplyDeleteAbigail,
ReplyDeleteLoved the correlation between Plato's Republic and The Phantom of the Opera. I can really see how both of them connect in the aspect of that knowledge comes from social experience. I am also a firm believer in that knowledge comes from social experienced. I think it's hard to understand something or fully grasp the concept of something until the person has experienced it in some type of way.
In The Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom does not understand the concept until she kisses him which opened his eyes to a whole new world. The first hand experience is what made him acknowledge how much more there is to the world than he thought. Just like the Phantom, people need some sort of first hand experience to fully understand what is out there.