Shawshank Redemption

Story Anatomy and Analysis Forms

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1. Act Structure Overview

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1.1 Act Structure Details and Captions

Act 1 | Setting

The Shawshank penitentiary. Mid 1900’s

Act 1 | Protagonist - Andy Dufresne

Accused of murdering his wife and her lover then charged with two life sentences in prison. Vice President of bank.

Want - To be free from subjugation.

Conflicts

Social - The Law/Justice System

Personal - Warden Norton - “Lies"

Act 1 | Protagonist - Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding

Accused of murder, he lives out his life in subjugation.

Want - To stay instituationalized because that is where he finds his worth.

Need - To find redemption through Hope.

Conflicts

Social - The Law/Justice System

Inner Personal - Lack of Hope/Faith

Act 1 | Antagonist - Warden Norton

Want - To be the law and use it to his own personal gain to the extent he’ll kill to keep his lie hidden.

Conflicts

Personal - Andy - “Truth”

Act 1 | Inciting Incident

What threw the character’s life out of balance?

Andy is accused of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Act 1 | Break

What is he going to do about it?

Andy got the opportunity to help the guards and moves on it.

Questions Proposed

Is Andy Dufresne Innocent?

Act 2 | Start

Andy chooses to play a game of chess…I think this metaphorically foreshadows his moves within the relations of the prison guards. Good vs. Bad

Act 2 | Midpoint Reversal

The feeling of subjugation to the feeling of freedom. Andy moving from a good helper to fighting for the overarching good.

Music allowed the enitre prison to feel free.

Chooses to play the music for the inmates rather than listen to the Warden which got him two weeks in the hole.

Then he explains to his fellow inmates that the beauty of music is in the heart…that’s Hope.

Act 2 | All is Lost

On the personal level, Andy has lost his normal life, his wife, his friend Tommy whom he dedicated mentorship to. His opportunity to be tried with the Truth of his innocence. He is also threatened by Norton to have his library removed and his bunk.

Andy is innocent and doesnt deserve to be in prison…now What?

Act 2 | Dark Night of the Soul

The emotional reaction of the characters after finding out everything they have been working towards or holding on to is gone.

Andy, now having gone two months in solitude and threatend to have everything taken away from him and his inmates of which he worked for along with his friend Tommy being killed by Norton for knowing the truth of Andy’s trial and willing to testify to relieve Andy of his unjust burden, Andy questions his state of being.

Act 2 | Break

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” That’s what Andy tells himself. So now Andy has made a choice and now action is to be taken.

Act 3 | Start

Andy acted upon his previous choice of get busy living or get busy dying and the last Act serves to show this in an edit with flashbacks and narration.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

What will happen to Andy?

Continue serving evil or…

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

What will happen to Andy?

Risk everything for his freedom?

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

What will happen to Andy?

Andy travels through the tunnel to freedom.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

What will happen to Andy?

Andy rejoices in his freedom.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

What about the money?

Andy claims all the money from the laundering that Norton charged him with.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Will Warden Norton pay for his unjust behavior?

Andy releases the information on Norton.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Will Warden Norton pay for his unjust behavior?

The law comes after Warden Norton.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Will Warden Norton pay for his unjust behavior?

Norton chooses suicide rather than confront the consequences of the choices he’s made.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Red Atones…realizing he has carried no hope, and learned by having Andy in his life it gave him that which he was lacking, hope.

*To me this shows a person needing redemption and the Jesus archetype (played out by Andy) entering their life and leading the way for them to follow. But the change must happen within the individual. Shown in the following scene where Red repents his transgressions.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Red repents for his sins.

* This is where Red acknowledges what he did wrong and that he is sorry for his misbehavior and won’t do it again, no matter what the outcome of his life holds.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Red is forgiven and given his freedom back. But to him its not freedom. He is entering a world of unknown to him, a world where he has no direction but still has a worth to offer.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Red questions his path and continuing it, but remembers his commitment to Andy.

*This to me represent the promise of a better life if Red carries faith in Andy. The same pattern of believing in Jesus.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Believing in Andy and accepting his call to Adventure, Red is Redeemed.

*This is where Red’s redemption takes place. He accepts letting go of his old belief system and in-turn adopts his Faith in Andy. Now acting on that, and his willingness to accept his charge given by Andy offers him a worth in the world of freedom and a path to follow.

Act 3 | Crisis/Climax

Red meets Andy now carrying hope/faith.

Act 3 | Resolution

Freedom is found in the path of redemption.

2. Andy’s Hero’s Journey Overview

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2.1 Andy’s Hero’s Journey

Ordinary World

What is their normal balanced world like?

Loves his wife but found she cheating on him due to his inability to be a good husband.

Call to Adventure

What is the event that calls them to a place that would take them out of their balanced world?

Serve two life sentences back to back.

Supernatural Aid

What is the item that acts as an aid through the special world?

Red acts as Andy’s aid throug the unknown world of prison. Also the rock hammer and the Bible act as Andy’s aid.

Crossing the First Threshold

What is the event that carries them from their ordinary, comfortable, balanced world to a special, uncomfortable, unbalanced world?

Andy is crossing the first threshold into the unknown world of prison.

Belly of the Whale - *Birth

What is the event that they go through that represents them being born into the special world?

Having been stripped of everything from his ordinary world, Andy is imprisoned in a new world, with only his clothes.

*I considered this a birth and the next the change as they are distant events, but relative to the meaning of the Belly of the Whale, the point of new birth and the willingness to undergo change.

Belly of the Whale - *Change

The moment they are willing to undergo change.

Up to this point, Andy was a rather passive character, but here he sees opportunity and is willing to take action propelling him into more roads of trials. The opportunity aligns with what he is competent at and can offer a worth.

The Road of Trials

What are the trials and tribulations that test the character to prepare them for the next steps?

Having an education and skillset in banking, Andy is able to help out the guards with sound financial planning and accounting assistance. Along with other trials.

Meeting with the Goddess

What is the moment that the character encounters a being that acts out the archetypal mother? That which offers the unconditional love of a mother.

To me it seems as thought the music represent the Meeting with the Goddess. It is that which comforts and consoles the entire prison and brings the feeling of freedom to all the inmates. I could also see it as the State answering Andy’s call for funds to build the library, which makes more sense because of his persistence and readiness to build the library has come.

Woman as Temptress

What’s their intended course and what tempted them off?

What Andy wanted now is to go back on trial having a truthful testiomny, from Tommy, to set him free, but if granted this, this would take him of the path of justice against the Warden and offer the learned redemption for Red.

Atonement with the Father

What is the event that the character goes through that challenges them to dissolve their current understanding and challenges them to acknowledge and amend their faulty belief system?

Andy realizes through relfection on his actions why his life has turned out the way it has. He was a closed book and drove his wife away which then played out in her accidental murder and his unjustified sentence. He realized was a bad husband.

Apotheosis

What is the moment that they understand and then act out their new belief system?

Understanding what he has done in his past, he projects what he wants in his future and then gains the courage to act it out. He wants to live in Zihuatenejo, a place that has no memory, and open up a hotel and charter boat, and he could use a man who knows how to get things.

He feels whatever mistakes he’s made, he’s paid for them and then some.

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

Ultimate Boon

Andy gained the will to live, the will to stand up to evil, and shown others a more proper path in life to walk.

What is it that the character has gone on this adventure to get? Is it internal? External? Both?

Refusal of the Return

Having gained this boon, does the character want to return to their original world to update the known with the new known?

No refusal of the return.

Having accepted the choice to return, what is the moment that the character has to escape with the boon?

The chance to escape has come down to the night that there is a storm and Andy chose to swap the Wardens financial papers.

Rescue from Without

While escaping with the boon, is their a moment when the character has assistance from others in returning with the boon?

I would say the assistance is given by the storm, for without the storm his loud actions could have compromised his escape.

Crossing the Return Threshold

What event is the passing from the special world back into the ordinary world?

His pipe dream lead him down the literal waste pipe crossing the return threshold back into the ordinary world.

Master of the Two Worlds

What moment is when the character now carries the wisdom from both the special world and the ordinary world?

Having mastered both the subjugated life of injustice and the life of justice, Andy had mastered the two and is prepared to live freely.

Freedom to Live

Having experienced both belief systems, when is the character able to live freely in respect to that new gained wisdom?

Andy carries the freedom to live.

*Note - Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the master of the house cometh. Mark 13:35

I thought this passage exchanged with the Warden was purposeful for the outcome of the story.

2.2 Red’s Hero’s Journey Overview

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2.3 Red’s Hero’s Journey

Ordinary World

What is their normal balanced world like?

Having commited murder, Red spends his days in prison To him this is his normal world.

Call to Adventure

What is the event that calls them to a place that would take them out of their balanced world?

Andy is looking for a rock hammer and confronts Red, knowing that he is a man who knows how to get things. This calls Red into a relation with Andy.

Refusal of the Call

What is the event that they are refusing accept?

Not sure of Andy’s intention, Red is reluctant to agree knowing that Andy has been tried under murder and that a hammer is a lethal weapon, unlike a toothbrush.

2nd Call to Adventure

Having refused a call, what is the next event that summons them to unbalance their world?

After a bit more discussion, Red learns he won’t use it for lethal purposes, so he then thinks Andy will use it for an escape, but Andy knows once Red sees the hammer he’ll understand. Red agrees believing Andy.

Supernatural Aid

What is the item that acts as an aid through the special world?

To me, it seems as though Andy is Red’s supernatural aid, guiding him in a path of hope.

Crossing the First Threshold

What is the event that carries them from their ordinary, comfortable, balanced world to a special, uncomfortable, unbalanced world?

A hard point for me to discern, but it seems the threshold is when they work on the roof and Andy risks getting himself and the crew kicked off the job. This risk takes them into a less subjugated and more negotiable relation with the guards. Also showing the inmates they can trust Andy and his actions.

Belly of the Whale

What is the event that they go through that represents them being born into the special world? The moment they are willing to undergo change.

I think its when Andy stood up to the hardest guard in the prison and negotiated with him for his coworkers. Red was willing to change his view on Andy, so was the rest of the crew…it was noted this was the first time they felt like a free men.

The Road of Trials

What are the trials and tribulations that test the character to prepare them for the next steps?

Red is asked by Andy to continue acruing objects for him among other trials.

Meeting with the Goddess

What is the moment that the character encounters a being that acts out the archetypal mother? That which offers the unconditional love of a mother.

Having played the operatic music for the prison, Red mentions that they all felt free in that moment. A moment that Andy tries to convey the idea of Hope to them and Red believes hope is a dangerous thing and can drive a man insane. Brook’s suicidal actions supported Red’s belief. The music symbolizes the Goddess.

Woman as Temptress

What’s their intended course and what tempted them off?

30 years. Stuck on his belief of being an institutionalized man, Red continues to beleive that he is more comfortable in prison than outside. And this is when Andy presents Red with a harmonica. I think this is Andy telling Red its within his own heart to choose hope.

Atonement with the Father

What is the event that the character goes through that challenges them to dissolve their current understanding and challenges them to acknowledge and amend their faulty belief system?

Having seen Andy escape the unjust subjugation he was sentenced to and expose the evil tyranny of the warden, Red has a better understanding of the value of Andy in his life versus not in his life.

Apotheosis

What is the moment that they understand and then act out their new belief system?

He reminds himself that song birds aren’t meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright. He lost his friend, but learns that the best path would be to follow him.

Ultimate Boon

What is it that the character has gone on this adventure to get? Is it internal? External? Both?

Red learns and acts out his repentance.

Refusal of the Return

Having gained this boon, does the character want to return to their original world to update the known with the new known?

To my understanding, Red is indifferent to the outcome of his repentance. He simply wants to move past the weight of his transgression.

Magic Flight

Having accepted the choice to return, what is the moment that the character has to escape with the boon?

Red actually doesn’ have to escape as he is welcomed and carried back to the new world by the guardians now having gained his wisdom.

Rescue from Without

While escaping with the boon, is their a moment when the character has assistance from others in returning with the boon?

Still not settled in the new world, Red remembers the promise he made to Andy to retrieve this box under the Oak Tree in Buxton. Having read the letter, Red is inspired to pursue a new path in life lead with Hope and the offer of providing his worth outside of the prison.

Crossing of the Return Threshold

What event is the passing from the special world back into the ordinary world?

Red risks breaking his parole and the seemingly inevitable path that Brooks took, to get on a bus and travel to find Andy.

Master of the Two Worlds

What moment is when the character now carries the wisdom from both the special world and the ordinary world?

Having lived both belief systems and acted them out, 1) The life of an institutionilzed man subjugated to the law and his own belief system of no hope 2) A life lead by Andy and his pursuit based on hope and truth.

Red has become the master of both worlds.