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Similarities Between The Crucible And The Shawshank Redemption

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The Shawshank Redemption (TSR): directed by Frank Darabont. The Crucible (TC): Written by Arthur Miller. Intro In this essay, I plan to explain how both TSR and TC explore similar themes in comparable and widely different ways. Both texts share themes of imprisonment, rebellion, exploitation of religion and isolation. TSR by Frank Darabont takes place in Shawshank penitentiary in the US state of Maine during the 1940s to 60s. The story follows the story of Andy Dufresne, a young banker who has been charged with the alleged murder of his wife after she was caught in an affair. Due to this he is sent to Shawshank where he is faced with corruption, sexual abuse and injustice against him and his fellow prisoners, from the hands of the prison's …show more content…

In the rucible andy rebels against the warden and his oppressors in the climactic finaly of the film with his eventual escape from shawshank, he not only rebels against the warden but also his eventual fate in shawshank. During the film we are shown the effects of institutionalisation on the prisoners, we see this within the character of books who has been in Shawshank for the majority of his life. When he eventually is let free on parole, he struggles to adapt to a society which is so different to the one he lived in. He struggles at work and to understand the world he has now been thrown into. This causes him to the horror of me and the prisoners of Shawshank to commit suicide. I believe that this set Andy on the certain path of escaping from Shawshank and rebellion against his would be fate, of living in a world that has forgotten and doesn't care about him, leaving him to live out the few years he has lived in depression. Andys rebellion is shown through his never ending hope which contrasts Reds almost nihilistic viewpoints, and as we see if it wasnt for Andys rebellion I believe Red would have ended up in the same if not worse situation as Brooks. Rebellion is also shown in TC, while blatant it does serve an important message of not acquiescing to social pressures. At the …show more content…

In TSR the warden uses religion regularly in order to prock himself and his image up. When Andy and some other prisoners first arrive at Shawshank the warden gives each of them a copy of the Bible, he regularly quotes religious verses in order to convey the jusutines of his moral compases and even has the Bible verse qoute ‘his judjment cometh and that right soon’. On paper you would think the warden is a stone christian, but this is incorrect. Throughout the movie, the warden uses the prisoners as cheap labour, openly accepting bribes which goes completely against the bible's morals. At the end of the movie when he is caught for his crimes rather than face them he commits the cardinal sin of suicide. This proves the wardens muisuse of the bible, i personally believe that he does infact believe in some aspects of the bible, but only when it suits him. Using it as a moral shield in order to justify his sick and twisted actions. Personally i believe while it is developed and investigated it is not blatantly cristised, while in TC it could be arguid that the main argument of the play is to speak out against religious fervour and zelatism. In TC religion is an integral part to the town of Saelm, due to it being a puritan which most likely migrated due to being an outling community in their native country. This causes the inhabitants of Salem to be far more

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