When you hear the word journey you often think of a long trip, one that is exhausting and painful but also beautiful and revealing. More often than not, in order to get to the beautiful and revealing hilltop, you must go through a dark and sinister valley. Both the pilgrim Dante, from Dante’s Inferno, and Andy Dufresne, from The Shawshank Redemption, encounter such a passage. Dante’s life is headed downhill fast so he journeys through Hell in order to gain some clarity direction. Dante travels through the nine circles of the Inferno with the help of a poetic guide, Virgil, and experiences first hand the torment, torture, and desperation the dark abyss. He then continues to tour Purgatory and Heaven and emerges a changed man. Similarly Andy Dufresne is a well-respected banker who slips into an impassioned and violent rage. Andy is sentenced to two life sentences in the notorious prison, Shawshank State Penitentiary, where he encounters horrors beyond anything he could imagine. Andy befriends a seasoned criminal, Red, who acts as a guide and friend within the corrupted and sinister detention facility. Andy outsmarts the abusive guards and warden, and escapes to a free and blissful life.
The replication of the story line in Dante’s Inferno in a much later movie shows that the idea of a journey through an evil and heinous place to a brighter future on the other side is a common theme across cultures. It shows that both ancient and modern cultures value the ideas of transformation and enlightenment and condemn the ideas of anguish and immorality.
receptionsblog 