SAMPLE ESSAY: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
TOPIC: Analyse how the presentation of at least one setting helped develop an
important theme.
The dictionary defines redemption as “A man’s deliverance from sin and
damnation”. Many believe that it is not possible for criminals to be redeemed and
that the only solution is to put them in jail and “throw away the key”. In The
Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, the setting of Shawshank
Prison is a powerful one where several of the main characters achieve a form of
“redemption”. First, many prisoners, through the impetus given by Andy’s
Shawshank education programme, are redeemed through fulfilling the promises
interrupted by the crimes they committed as stupid and wayward young men.
Second, the character of Red redeems himself by finally coming to terms with his
crime and accepting responsibility for his actions, after having served a long
sentence. Finally, the main character, Andy Dufresne, is delivered from “sin and
damnation” through the sewage pipes of the prison. The director uses the setting to
develop the theme through the features of dialogue, camera shots and angles and
lighting.
The New England prison, known as Shawshank, is the central setting for the film.
Most of the stories are told within the prison and the attitude of the judge, the
warden and the parole officer at the beginning of the film make it clear that
prisoners are at the bottom of the food chain, worthy of nothing but contempt. The
prevailing opinion of the day was that these violent prisoners should be locked up
until they were of no further use (or threat) to society. Shawshank Prison was a very
unlikely place for anyone to achieve redemption. Yet, this is a key theme that
resonates throughout the film, with Shawshank as the backdrop.
Many of the prisoners in Shawshank were high school “dropouts” – that is, had not
finished high school and were often functionally illiterate. Andy began an
individualised reading programme as an extension of his job in the prison library,
enabling many of the men to achieve a sense of pride and independence that they
had not encountered before. The library, therefore, became an oasis of redemption
within the forbidding walls of Shawshank. This is shown through the technique of
lighting and camera shots. The scenes within the prison but outside the library are
dully lit and the lighting used deliberately casts shadows across the faces of the
prisoners. Camera angles within the prison walls are often narrow, emphasising the
closed-in feeling. In contrast, the lighting is bright in the library, as though it is a
place of light, hope and promise. Similarly, there are several wide-angle shots giving
the impression of space. This is seen especially in the scene where Tommy is sitting
his high-school dilpoma. This well-lit, spacious room could be a library anywhere in
the USA – no-one would suspect it is in a prison as it looks like a placeof freedom.
This reinforces the idea that redemption could be achieved in such a place. Within
the setting of Shawshank prison, an ugly place without hope, Andy created a small
sanctuary where prisoners could seek and sometimes find redemption. Some of the
men even receive their high school diplomas, a feat many of them may have felt was
impossible prior to their time in Shawshank.
Red is an important man in the prison – that man who “can get you things”. Early in
the film we witness a parole hearing where Red insists he has been rehabilitated. The
Parole Board evidently feels that his words are false and, ten years later, when we
see Red again rejected for parole, it seems as though he will never find public
redemption. He is a man without hope, who has come to “depend on the walls” of
the prison. However, through his long association with Andy and following Andy’s
escape, Red finds the courage and inspiration to speak the truth at his third hearing
in the prison and is granted parole. Dialogue and camera shots help to support this
idea. When he is asked about whether he feels he has been “rehabilitated”, Red
adopts a dry, tired tone when he tells the parole board that it is a “made-up word”.
However, then he speaks from the heart. “There's not a day goes by I don't feel
regret.” He accepts responsibility for his crimes and wishes he could speak to the
“stupid kid” he was. He has gradually come to see Shawshank as a temporary stop
on his life path, rather than the end of the road, and feels that he has paid enough of
a price for his crimes. At the end of his speech to the parole board, a close-up shot
shows his picture being stamped “approved”. This helps the viewer to understand
that in order to be redeemed, people need to honestly admit to their mistakes and
learn from them. Although Shawshank as a place seems an unlikely setting from
which to learn this lesson, Red's long hours of solitude and boredom, as well as
Andy's influence, helped him to understand the enormity of his choices and begin
paying for them.
Andy, the hero of the film, is the character who ultimately rejects the prison and
everything it stands for, despite helping to make it a better place for the inmates at
every opportunity. His symbolic rebirth at the end of the film, where he crawls
through a sewage pipe and comes out “clean on the other side”, represents the
ultimate redemption – that of the Christian promise of forgiveness, death and
resurrection. This is supported through lighting and camera angles. When Andy
finally makes it through the sewage pipe his first move is to turn his face and arms
up to the cleansing rain. Although it is a dark, rainy night, Andy is backlit to give a
halo effect, matching his crucifixion pose. The camera pans out and up until we see
Andy framed in a bird's-eye-view, where we, as the audience, look down upon this
man who has been redeemed through his innocence and his integrity. The prison in
Andy’s case was the beast to be tamed and conquered on his own journey towards
redemption and his success in this both awes and inspires the remaining inmates for
years to come. Thus, Shawshank Prison, for Andy, was an important setting where
he underwent trials and hardship but which he beat through his “re-birth” as a free
man after his escape.
Shawshank Prison is a foreboding place of little hope, yet many characters in the
film find a form of redemption within its walls. The prisoners who gain success
though the education programme have a higher chance of fitting back into society
upon their release. Red grows to accept that the prison is a place to pay his debt to
society and then to move on. Andy, the catalyst for the redemption found by the
other characters, fittingly experiences redemption of the highest kind – escape from
oppression and happiness in his new life.