Original artwork, not a still
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.
— The Shawshank Redemption · 1994
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The film's answer to Red's belief that hope is a dangerous thing: for Andy it is the practical force that kept a chisel moving for two decades. Hope, as the film frames it, is a verb, and the line has outlived the prison walls as an everyday motto on mugs, graduation cards and hospital-ward posters.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Shawshank RedemptionShow the scene
The Shawshank Redemption (1994, written and directed by Frank Darabont from a Stephen King novella). Andy Dufresne, a banker serving two life sentences in Shawshank State Prison, spends the film quietly digging his way out. After he vanishes, Red, who has finally been paroled after forty years, follows Andy's instructions to a hayfield near Buxton, Maine, and unearths a package. In it is a letter signed with an alias, inviting Red south, and it ends on this line about hope.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: The Shawshank RedemptionAndy's letter to RedReference checked
- Wikipedia: The Shawshank RedemptionPlotReference checked
Context reviewed
