Shawshank Redemption

"Let me tell you my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."

Frank Darabont's film The Shawshank Redemption is mainly concerned about the plight of prison inmates. Discuss how far this is true about the film.

The Shawshank Redemption shows the struggle of prison inmates in light of the fact that there are other issues present in the text. Universal themes correlate with the struggles of the characters in the film to substantiate how it not only revolves around their willingness to escape, but to justify their positions within the story. The characters Red and Andy represent these ideas, in addition to how they struggle in prison; they also develop individuality, integrity and most importantly, hope.

Individuality draws a parallel with the plight of the inmates in that the struggle provides an inciter to develop distinctiveness in the prison environment. This is because it assists prisoners to create a setting that they don't necessarily want to live in, but they live off. Individualism provides the opportunity to serve a purpose where otherwise in a setting such as a prison, a person is bespoke to the authority. Red and Andy both want to leave, shown in how Red repeatedly returns to the parole board, despite the guarantee of rejection and Andy physically escapes by the end of the film. However, when in the prison they form their own environment to escape their plight. Red is "...the guy who can get it for you...anything within reason," while Andy reinvigorates the library, both giving them a purpose. The factor of individuality gives prisoners strength, and in some cases the ability to face injustice and develop moral principals. "I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while."

The film The Shawshank Redemption, although concerned with the plight of the prison inmates, also deals with the issue of integrity as something that can develop over time as a result of struggles, or come into the prison and face the difficulties. The character Red develops integrity as a state of being sound, different to the integrity Andy experiences. He accepts the idea of being institutionalized as something which cannot be altered, as he is under the control of the guards and warden. Although Red is restricted by his struggle in the prison, he does develop a state of wholeness. Andy is a character of integrity, that is, adherence to a code of morality. He comes in to the prison and acts "like a man in the park, without a care or worry in the world." Andy refuses to let the walls of prison break his morality, in spite of the fact that he has to deal with 'the sisters' gang-raping him or the warden's growing animosity. It is seen in how Andy does not