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Marissa C. Vuittonet

Professor Stacey Burleson

Philosophy 1301

November 28, 2021

Free Will and Shawshank Redemption

What does it mean to have free will? According to Merriam-Webster’s definition it

means “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine

intervention”. In Shawshank Redemption we can see how to a certain extent the characters do

have some form of free will despite being in prison. There is a numerous amount of influences in

those who work and reside at the prison. These influences in the film are usually freedom,

money, and hope. The film Shawshank Redemption follows a group of prisoners, mainly focused

on Andy Dufresne and Red. Andy was convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover and

Red was also convicted for murder when he was younger. The film follows their time in prison,

the events that lead to their convictions, and the aftermath. The film focuses heavily on free will,

hope and their outlooks on life.

The film shows how Andy adjusts to the prison lifestyle despite being falsely convicted.

Due to the murders, he is sentenced to two life terms, despite being an innocent man. The whole

film is narrated by Red and describes events and incidents that happen to Andy. In the very

beginning Andy is seen as a very quiet, naive, and a snobby person, throughout the film there is a

change that is seen in his character. He is shown as a more compassionate, calculated, and a

determined person. He chooses to stay calm, hopeful, and collected despite his circumstances.
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One of his first interactions with Red is him asking for a rock hammer. Red gives him

warnings about the sisters, about what to do if he is caught with his rock hammer and questions

him on why he needed the tool. Red is known as the person that can get you what you need but

he knows the risks that he is taking. Although Red is still serving time he tries his best to avoid

more trouble. But begins to have a friendship with Andy. He later sees how truly tiny the

hammer is and thinks it is a joke. “It would take a man about 600 years to tunnel under the wall

with one of these.” (The Shawshank Redemption) Red and some of his friends bribe their ways

into a job, Andy is one of the men in the crew as well. One of the guards begins speaking of his

financial situation and the complications of it with his coworkers. Due to Andy’s knowledge, he

steps out of line and begins asking the guard a question. Knowing that he could be punished or

even killed for this. Andy’s knowledge allows him to be granted his request from the guard. With

this Andy begins to gain some favor from the guards, allowing him to get revenge from his

abuser, have some items that aren’t allowed and gain attention from the warden. Choices were

made in order to benefit themselves and others.

The prison guards are also faced with many choices in the film. Due to Andy being a

banker and having more financial knowledge they give him some leeway since he helps them.

Andy is able to set up their futures and help them financially. This allows Andy to get away with

some things and get some privilege. The guards also abuse some prisoners and take orders from

the warden. Most of the guards are influenced by money, greed, and their jobs. The warden takes

advantage of Andy by using him to help him do illegal money laundering. He chooses to make

bad decisions although he is a very religious and strict man. He also decides to keep this a secret,

the only person to know at the time was Andy. The warden is influenced by his greed for glory,

power, and money. The warden uses his power to have a prisoner killed. He does this knowing
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that Andy could become a free man because of the prisoner’s knowledge of who truly killed

Andy’s wife and her lover. Andy tries to leave, and the warden does everything in his power to

keep him on a leash. This could be by abusing him or being kind to him with some rewards.

Knowledge is seen as power throughout the film, allowing Andy to use it to his

advantage and pass time as he is serving his sentence. For others such as Red and Brooks, a

fellow prisoner and friend, they are content with their lives within the prison. Eventually both are

released but have trouble adjusting to their new world.

According to Osborne, “Socrates' (469–399 B.C.E.) understanding of human action

reflects the Greek emphasis on the importance of knowledge for intentional action…According

to Socrates, virtue is knowledge and vice is ignorance…Plato (427?–347 B.C.E.) adopts this

Socratic view, although in his later works he emphasizes that the passions have an influence on

what the agent knows.”

Socrates believed that knowledge could lead to good deeds being done and ignorance

leads to negative things to happen. Plato believed that other things could also influence our

choices along with this. The philosopher that I thought of the most when watching the film was

Plato and the Allegory of the Cave. In one scene there is a prisoner named Brooks. Brooks spent

most of his life in the prison so was considered institutionalized. He already adjusted to his life in

prison, ran the library and was used to how the world used to be when he was younger. He is so

fearful to leave prison that he tries to hurt one of his fellow prisoners when he hears the news of

his release. This alone made me think of how the prisoners in the Allegory of the Cave were only

knowledgeable of what was within their cave. They only seen shadowy figures and knew nothing

of the outside world. Brooks was sent out of the world with no knowledge just knew what was
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within the prison. He had to decide on whether to adjust or figure out a solution. With his new

knowledge of the outside world, he chose to leave the world instead of trying to move forward.

“Plato illustrates how truth and knowledge can first be frightening as it contradicts people's in-

born state of ignorance. However, once knowledge and wisdom is gained, a person becomes

overwhelmed with the truth and refuses to revert to ignorance.” (Gale World History Online

Collection) Again this can also be related to how Andy and Red’s outlook on life outside of

prison differ from one another. Throughout the film Andy is dreaming of leaving the prison and

to be able to be a free man despite having two life sentences. Whereas Red says it is just hopeful

wishing and that it is dangerous to think like that when there is no escape. In the film you can see

how his character changes his outlook from the times that he is rejected for his release to when it

is approved. The first two times he joked about being a changed man, but after a while he takes it

seriously and regrets his choices. Andy is a huge influence on Red without him knowing, he

changes Red’s views of the outside world. Speaking of how he plans on going to Mexico and

living a simple life. Red begins to change his outlook on leaving prison, with him coming to

terms that there is more outside of prison. He was so used to being institutionalized that he never

thought he would get out of the system and move forward as a free man. He was able to join

Andy after he was released from prison, while Andy’s knowledge and determination allowed

him to escape the prison with money, a new identity, and a carefree life.

In conclusion many things can influence us in our lives, free will allows us to make

decisions on how our lives turn out. Although there may be outside forces that influence our

decisions most things are within our control. This could be based on simple decisions that are

made or even our outlook on life. This could be seen throughout the film how simple choices

were made but made a huge difference in their lives. How the prisoners chose to adjust to the
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outside world, their outlooks and the poor decisions that were made by the prison guards. Each

had a choice and had to deal with the consequences.

Works Cited

Darabont, Frank, director. The Shawshank Redemption. Columbia, 1994.

“Freewill.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/freewill. Accessed 28 Nov. 2021.

Osborne, Thomas M., Jr. "Free will, Determinism, and Predestination." New Dictionary of the

History of Ideas, edited by Maryanne Cline Horowitz, vol. 2, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005, pp.

841-844. Gale In Context: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3424300291/WHIC?

u=txshracd2496&sid=bookmark-WHIC&xid=95555ba5. Accessed 28 Nov. 2021.

"Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” from the Republic." Gale World History Online Collection, Gale,

2014. Gale In Context: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/YIETFR690306494/WHIC?

u=txshracd2496&sid=bookmark-WHIC&xid=3bed3aae. Accessed 28 Nov. 2021.