In 1947. Andy Dufresne was found guilty by a jury of murdering Linda Dufresne along with Glenn Quinti. Andy Dufresne is stubborn and insistent in his claim of innocence. However, the evidence is overwhelming. He is sentenced to two lifetime sentences at Shawshank Penitentiary. Red is a long-serving prisoner at Shawshank. Andy becomes Red’s best friend in prison. Red is a man known for his ability to obtain any item a prisoner might want. Andy, who has been imprisoned for a month, approaches Red and demands a rock-hammer to resume his rock-collecting and rock-shaping hobby. Shawshank’s harsh environment is filled with vicious guards, heartless outbursts and frequent sexual assaults. Andy is victimized by Bogs, the leader of the “Sisters” gang.

Andy, in order to escape the abuse, takes a one-week job at a nearby factory tarring roofs. Andy, who is at the factory, hears Byron Hadley complain about a tax on the inheritance he received. He sees an opportunity. Andy offers Hadley protection by helping him avoid taxes. Hadley, who has recently become a friend of Andy’s, beats Bogs so badly that he gets him transferred to an outside hospital. Red gives Andy the Rita Hayworth poster he wants when Andy comes back from the infirmary.

Norton, who is the warden in this prison, gives Andy a place to work at the library. This will allow him to assist the guards and himself financially. Andy works to improve the library in order to help educate his inmates. He also writes daily to the Senate, requesting more books. After Sometime a gentle Brooks, an elderly inmate who has served 50 years of prison, is released and sent into the world. The real world doesn’t agree with him. He ends up in a halfway home after serving 50 years and hangs himself. Norton started a prisoner program to allow them to begin working on the infrastructure outside of the prison. He began receiving bribes for this from local business owners who feared that prison workers would take their jobs.

Andy hides away the money in an account with a fake name and helps the warden for several years to launder the money. Red and Andy become friends with Tommy Wiliams in 1964 when Shawshank receives a new inmate. Andy helps Tommy to learn to read, get a degree and discovers that Tommy is the one who really killed Andy’s lover and wife. Andy is hopeful that a second trial will be held and he informs his warden. However, he wants to protect himself and so has Tommy shot and Andy sent to solitary. Andy, when he is finally released from solitary, tells Red of his freedom dreams, which include living in Zihuatanejo. Red says that this would never happen. Andy is still hopeful and tells Red about his plans to live in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican coastal town.

Andy leaves the room for roll-call on the day after, having escaped through a large hole he’d been digging for many years. He poses in the name of the fake person who has all the money Norton has deposited. He then takes the money to Mexico and leaves. During the course of his actions, he alerts the authorities to Norton’s unethical business practices. The warden shoots himself when the police arrive to arrest him. Red is finally released from prison after 40 years and goes to the Buxton location that Andy told him about. Red finds a money box, a letter written by Andy and some money. The two friends are reunited when he does.

Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies. Professor Ryan Duffy allowed me to watch it in class. This movie has several morals that I found very interesting.

The power of the characters was the first moral principle in this movie. All characters were in a position of power that led to sinful outcomes. Guards who were ruthless and without compassion used force against prisoners was the most extreme. It is wrong because the prisoners were falsely accused and punished even if they weren’t guilty. Although we may not be able to tell for certain what happened, the cruelty of the guards in the movie made us feel sorry for the prisoners. The guards abuse their power to gain the respect of the prisoner, but they get it back.

Norton, director, is also linked to the story, as he assumed that his words would rule Shawshank Prison. He tortured prisoners without any consideration for their personal lives. I was shocked by the murder of a prisoner after he expressed his innocence. I felt like a critic was defeated because no one could express any kind of anger or sadness without being tortured.

Inside Out, a program that clearly promotes slavery, is another way power has been misused. The prisoners’ eagerness to work was quite interesting, but from an outsider’s perspective I saw the whole thing as corrupt and slave labour. Norton forced them to work primarily for money. He had no sympathy for the inmates. It is a form of exploitation, as Norton used the discipline and hard work of others to help himself. The Bible was also at odds with him, because he firmly held it in his hands while doing things that were totally against its teachings. Thomas’ murder is a good example of him going against the Bible. Thomas had no choice but to kill him, as he was well aware of the reality. No matter what, the above portrayals led me to identify with Dufresne/Red more than Norton/guards. However, these two also did things in contradiction with good moral standards.

Dufresne started working at the jail’s monetary office, and he used it to his advantage. He altered prison rules and created false documents. Then, he used false evidence to the end of the process in order to complete the job and destroy Norton’s life. Norton was then deemed the one who should be held responsible. Because he had acted based on a false conviction, his actions appeared ethically legal, since it was only a matter of seeking retribution. Our moral perspective is distorted by our feelings.

By escaping at the end, he makes us feel good for his abilities to catch others and get the best of everything, all without revealing to his companions how they helped him. We see Red’s activities differently as time goes on, and I cried with satisfaction when they two reunited in the final scene of the film.

Looking back through our movies, I saw that all the characters tried to achieve happiness and find ways to get themselves out of prison. Dufresne became less moral due to his surroundings in the movie. The idea behind all actions is that they will have a consequence and we must take into consideration the consequences of our actions before we decide to act. Boggs was sentenced for his torturing of Dufresne, despite not considering the consequences.

Dufresne had a good idea of what would happen to him, and he took advantage of that. Norton’s killing of Thomas was immoral as well, because he believed Thomas to be innocent and knew it. Norton was trying to avoid any punishments that could be imposed on him because Dufresne’s conviction had been certified as unfair. The movie has many ideas that we have discussed in class. It also shows the various ethical ideas in our society. In my opinion, it was one the best films ever made.