The Shawshank Redemption indubitably carries with it a strong sense of how a person can achieve their dreams and reach their goals if only they can cling on to hope. The audience sees the contrast between Andy and Red - one man holds hope in high regard, the other discounts it as only a means to receive disappointment. However, it could be concluded that eventually both men were correct in their beliefs, as both obtained what they wanted, simply through vastly different means.

For Andy Dufresne, hope was the one thing keeping him sane, the one thing that he could turn to when everything else seemed futile, and the thing that eventually led to his escape from Shawshank. Following the incident in which Andy played opera through the loudspeaker - and his resulting time in `the hole' - Andy and Red undertake a profound discussion about hope, and...