Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons^™

Riding A Broomstick Out Of Plato’S Cave: Elements Of Plato Found In J.K. Rowling’S Harry Potter Series, Camille Winegar Parker

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has become a cultural phenomenon. An analysis of the Harry Potter series reveals that underneath the phenomenon status there is great depth. This paper looks at aspects of the novels that mirror elements found in Plato’s The Republic, specifically his allegory of the cave in Book Seven. Plato’s allegory of the cave can be broken down into “four stages,” and in the Harry Potter novels there are characters who fall in each of these four stages. Through the characters in the four stages we see that the “highest form of knowledge” (Plato 246) to …