Darabont's Use Of Symbolism In The Shawshank Redemption

“Discuss Darabont’s use of symbolism in the film The Shawshank Redemption. Explain some of the significant symbols in the film and what they are used to convey.”

Frank Darabont’s film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is a prison drama that tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a banker who is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover, however; only Andy knows he did not commit the crimes. He spends twenty years in Shawshank Prison, during this time he befriends a fellow inmate, Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, and finds himself experiencing brutality of prison life, while still maintaining hope that he will get out of Shawshank Prison.

Hope is something found rarely in prison films, and Darabont uses many symbols to convey hope and other messages in this film. Religion, hope and freedom are the most important symbols that appear throughout the film.

There are many religious symbols in The Shawshank Redemption; a recurring object in the film is a Bible that Andy owns during his time in Shawshank Prison. The warden tells
Andy to read the Bible, saying that “salvation lies within”, the bible in the film gives two different takes on the word salvation. The warden’s version seems to be about reading Bible verses and that’s how you’ll be saved. Andy’s version is saving himself, keeping little flickers of hope there when faced with the worst situations. “Salvation lies within” means something literal for Andy, as his salvation does in fact lie within the Bible, it is where he kept the means of his escape, the rock hammer.

“Geology is the study of pressure and time. That’s all it takes really… pressure… and time…” (Red), with the patience and hope for a better future, Andy takes twenty years to chisel his way through the prison wall and escape from Shawshank through the sewer system. After he gets out of the sewer into the river outside the prison, Andy strips off his shirt, stretches out his arms, and gazes upwards, to the accompaniment of a rainstorm and a majestic soundtrack. This is another religious theme; his escape is parallel to the disciples finding Christ to not be in his tomb. Red expects to find Andy dead in his cell, but instead of finding that, he finds the cell empty. Andy is alive and now has a new life to live on the outside. It is parallel in the way that the Warden goes looking for Andy’s body, just like the disciples went looking for Christ’s, and as the Warden found the cell empty and Andy alive, the disciples found the tomb empty and Jesus alive.

Hope drives the inmates at Shawshank and gives them a will to live.
Andy’s hope and determination keeps him from anger and insanity from being in solitary confinement and going through the horrific incidents throughout his time at Shawshank. The pinup posters of Rita Hayworth and other women represent the outside world and hope; it gives the inmate’s freedom to indulge in their fantasies, both sexual and about having freedom and hope. Rita Hayworth is the poster that conceals the hole in the concrete that Andy created with his rock hammer. She gives a sense of hope that keeps Andy alive and sane, it makes him different from the other inmates, including Red, who does not seem to believe that hope exists in a prison like Shawshank. It takes Andy twenty years to hammer through the wall, but it is something for him to work on and keeps him busy, he always needed a project that gave him something to look forward
to.

The rock hammer represents Andy’s freedom; he uses it for entertainment when he carves rocks into chess pieces something he felt he needed to do to feel normal as that was a hobby of his outside of prison. That is all anyone thinks he is doing with the rock hammer, which is not the case by the end of the film and ends up being the case of his freedom.

Hope is something that Brooks Hatlen does not experience, however, he takes care of a baby bird called Jake, who shows to be a symbol of hope. Jake matures over the course of the film; his growth is a result of Brook’s devotion, as he does not let his love for the bird be impacted by the cruelty of prison. When Brook’s is released he tells Jake that he “cannot take care of him anymore”, Jake is also a symbol of freedom as well as hope when he is set free at the same time that Brook’s is leaving prison.