Line #74 Characters/TheShawshankRedemption


1	%% Zero Context Examples are NOT ALLOWED on wiki pages. Please add context before uncommenting.
2
3	!Film/TheShawshankRedemption
4
5	[[foldercontrol]]
6
7	!Inmates
8
9	[[folder:Andy]]
10	!!Andrew "Andy" Dufresne
11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TropeDufresne_1352.jpg]]
12	[[caption-width-right:350:''"You know the funny thing is, on the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook."'']]
13	->'''Played By:''' Creator/TimRobbins
14
15	-->''"That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you."''
16
17	A banker sentenced to life in prison in 1947 for the murder of his wife and her lover.
18	----
19	* ArchEnemy: Warden Samuel Norton, who systematically ruins Andy's life after the latter brings evidence of his innocence.
20	* TheAtoner: He didn't kill his wife but he does regret not being a better husband to her and believes that at least some of his punishment is deserved because of that.
21	* BadassBookworm: In addition to being a badass, he also spends much of his time reading and building a library.
22	* BadassTeacher: In Shawshank, he helped several prisoners with their education and he helped Tommy get some high school equivalency. Through Andy, Tommy was able to pass by getting a C+ average. Which is a satisfactory performance and a 2.3-grade point average.
23	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Andy is very helpful to the other inmates, and is willing to do whatever he can to make Shawshank easier, but he's also [[spoiler:Norton and Hadley's worst nightmare]]. He's also quite competent in hand-to-hand -- the Sisters always target him when he's alone and outnumbered, but he's still able to fight them off sometimes. He also threatens to use laundry powder against Bogs, saying it will blind him. He also breaks Rooster's nose with a movie reel and has the guts to call Norton "obtuse" with no worry of the consequences.
24	* BlamingTheCuckold: Andy blames himself for his wife's affair, as he tells Red later in the film.
25	--> '''Andy:''' She was beautiful. God I loved her. I just didn't know how to show it, that's all. I killed her, Red. I didn't pull the trigger, but I drove her away. And that's why she died, because of me. The way I am.
26	* BlitheSpirit: Andy in Shawshank penitentiary. He is a FishOutOfWater: he is an educated and innocent man who has to live with violent criminals. He shakes things up: he resists the bullies and finally gets rid of them; he tries to improve the lives of the inmates through education and the creation of a library.
27	* BludgeonedToDeath: Subverted. Red is worried that Andy will use his rock hammer to fight another inmate, but Andy doesn't use it on anything besides his rocks and wall.
28	* BookSafe: [[spoiler:The rock hammer is in the Bible.]]
29	* BrainyBrunette: He has light brown hair and is the smartest prisoner in Shawshank, so he qualifies as this.
30	* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Andy utilizes to his full advantage, knowing good and well that Warden Norton can't punish him too severely since it would also intefere with Andy balancing the prison's books. This comes into full effect when he locks himself in the Warden's office and blasts ''Le Nozze di Figaro'' over the P.A. system. Despite his blatant insubordination, he only gets off with two-weeks of solitary confinement.
31	* TheChessmaster: Andy plays chess, and mentioning chess is a minor theme throughout the film. Andy also always analyzes everything and consistently stays several moves ahead. His entire escape could be seen as maneuvering pieces carefully to achieve checkmate and win the game (the warden's shirt and shoes, the rope, making people think he was suicidal instead of planning to escape, and it's a sure thing Andy checked the weather and ''knew'' there was going to be a thunderstorm that night, which would cover his escape noises and make it harder for the dogs to track him). Finally, Andy not only took all of the Warden's ill-gotten money, he did it by taking all the documentation that allowed him to prove he was Randall Stevens. Even if something went wrong and Andy could not withdraw the money, ''his final move would have been to make sure the Warden couldn't get to it either.''
32	* CassandraTruth: He ''is'' genuinely innocent, but given how everyone in prison claims to be, no one takes him seriously. He eventually just starts mentioning it as a joke.
33	* {{Determinator}}: He keeps at trying to escape until he succeeds. He also persistently sends letters to the government until they provide funds for his library.
34	* DeadpanSnarker: In the midst of his calm and calculating personality, he gets more than a few snarks in. For example, when discovering a maggot in his food, Brooks asks him if he's going to eat it. His response is a deadpan, "I hadn't planned on it."
35	* DownTheDrain: He escapes through a sewer pipe.
36	* GeekPhysiques: Of the tall (Tim Robbins is 6'5") and thin variety. Red says that he looked "like a stiff breeze would knock him over."
37	* GuileHero: Upon discovering the deteriorating condition of the wall of his cell, Andy slowly (as in over the course of twenty years) carves an escape tunnel through it. Meanwhile, he works his way into the trust of the Warden, who is under the mistaken assumption that he is TheChessmaster. Twenty years later, Andy escapes from the prison, taking a new identity -- that he happened to create for the purposes of laundering the Warden's embezzled money, thus making himself a millionaire -- and having the Warden and sadistic guard both arrested... all without mentioning a single word of his plan to anyone at all. Andy is like the heroic version of [[Film/TheUsualSuspects Keyzer Soze]], and gives us one of the most satisfying endings in film history.
38	* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: {{Trope Namer\|s}}. He was "for-real innocent" when he was arrested, but becomes an accomplice in money laundering while in prison.
39	* HeterosexualLifePartners: He and Red quickly become the best of friends, to the point that Red is the only other person Andy ever told about the money laundering and follows him to Mexico.
40	* HopeBringer: While he didn't intend to become one, starting with his transfer to the prison library, he works to better life for his fellow inmates. He brings them books, education, and hope for a future after their prison terms. He gives them music in records. When he commandeers the [=PA=] system to play "Sull'aria ... che soave zeffiretto" for the entire prison, which as Red explains, made every man in Shawshank feel free just for a few moments.
41	* IncriminatingIndifference: His lack of any clear grief or sadness over his wife was the final nail in the coffin for his trial, with the judge remarking that he was "icy and remorseless." In actuality Andy just has a reserved and stoic personality that sticks even in prison. And even then, his wife was killed immediately after he discovered she'd been having an affair; circumstances like that would give ''most'' people conflicted feelings and difficulty in expressing emotions.
42	* {{Irony}}: While explaining to Red the tax fraud scheme Andy has been committing for Norton, Andy jokes that it took ''going'' to prison for him to actually start committing crimes.
43	* MeaningfulName: His initials are "A.D.," which also stand for ''Anno Domini'' (Latin for "The Year of Our Lord"), hinting at his role as an allegorical stand-in for UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.
44	* TheMentor: He helped Tommy to pass his GED with a C+ average.
45	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Or rather, my god, what was I about to do? He was drunkenly planning to either kill or simply frighten his wife and Glenn Quentin with his gun the night they were murdered before he sobered up and came to his senses. He admits to the prosecutor at his trial that he is unsure what his intentions were.
46	* NervesOfSteel: As quiet and unassuming as Andy is, that doesn't make him a coward. He offers Hadley help with his tax issues and ''even after nearly being thrown off the roof'' he still doesn't back down, he calms a raging Brooks down like a patient father dealing with an upset child, and fights off Bogs and the Sisters, even convincing Boggs to not rape him by claiming he'll bite his dick off if he forces him to give him oral sex.
47	* NiceGuy: Andy is a polite, good-natured and kind man who does what he can to make life in prison easier and never loses his sense of humanity despite the awful situation he's in.
48	* NotSoStoic:
49	** The look on his face when the judge sentences him to Shawshank is that of abject horror.
50	** [[spoiler:He's largely emotionless, until he loses his chance to go free legitimately.]]
51	* PerpetualTourist: He ends up in the Pacific coast of Mexico at the end of the movie.
52	* PrecisionFStrike: Compared to the other characters, Andy only uses strong profanity on two occasions. The first is when he calls Boggs Diamond "an ignorant fuck" to show how much contempt and hatred he has for the scummy, bullying rapist. The second time is when he tells Tommy why he is in prison because "the lawyer fucked me. Everyone in here is innocent. Don't you know that?" This is hilarious call back to when Andy first came to Shawshank.
53	* TheQuietOne: He's marked by seldom saying a word, and by staying completely quiet on the first night.
54	* ShellShockedVeteran: The novella explicitly mentions that he served in World War II, which might provide an explanation for his reserved personality. The film leaves it ambiguous as all the audience is told about his pre-prison life is that he was married and was the vice-president of a major bank in Portland, Maine.
55	* ShorterMeansSmarter: The book describes Andy as being especially short and tiny, but he's still the most intelligent person in the story. [[spoiler:When the guards find his escape tunnel, they have to struggle to find a man small enough to scout it out.]] This is inverted in the film where he's played by Tim Robbins, who stands at 6'5", and towers over almost everyone else.
56	* TheSmartGuy: And a handy EvilGenius for Norton, although he's not actually evil.
57	* TheStoic: He rarely shows any emotion despite having one of the best excuses to be unhappy. This is part of the reason why he ended up convicted of murdering his wife as he expressed no sign of regret or sorrow in the courtroom.
58	* TheTeetotaler: After drunkenly planning to either kill or frighten his wife and her lover(but eventually not going through with it), Andy has apparently given up drinking.
59	* TookALevelInBadass: At first, he's barely able to get by, but then he becomes more competent to the point of [[spoiler:getting both Norton and Hadley arrested after years of abuse at their hands.]]
60	* WronglyAccused: He really ''didn't'' kill his wife and her lover, but still did 19 years of a life sentence for doing so.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Red]]
64	!!Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
65	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TropeRedding_5505.jpg]]
66	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'."'']]
67	->'''Played By:''' Creator/MorganFreeman
68
69	-->''"Forty years I been asking permission to piss. I can't squeeze a drop without say-so."''
70
71	A contraband smuggler, imprisoned since 1927 for murder, who befriends Andy.
72	----
73	* AntiHero: Red is a convicted murderer and a rather mercenary smuggler, but he's not really a bad guy. He's a good friend to Andy, the only inmate to show genuine remorse for his crime, and disgusted by violent inmates like the Sisters.
74	* TheAtoner: The only one in Shawshank willing to own up to his guilt, he spends 40 years in prison making up for his crime.
75	* BrutalHonesty: Towards the end, once he's lost his best friend, Red has become so tired and bitter of the endless cycle of his parole hearings and so inured to prison life that he finally tells the parole board exactly what he thinks of both them and himself. It's {{implied}} this candor is what finally gets him paroled.
76	-->'''Board Member:''' Ellis Boyd Redding, your files say you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated?\
77	'''Red:''' Rehabilitated? Well, now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means.\
78	'''Board Member:''' Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society--\
79	'''Red:''' I know what you think it means, sonny. To me, it's just a made-up word. A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?\
80	'''Board Member:''' Well, are you?\
81	'''Red:''' There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone, and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So, you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit.
82	* CaptivityHarmonica: He is given a harmonica as a gift from Andy, but doesn't play it because it reminds him of his free days where he would play the harmonica.
83	* ContrivedCoincidence: When Red is paroled, he is not only placed into the exact same bagging job at the same Foodway supermarket as Brooks was ten years previous, but he is also given the exact same room in the same halfway house his old friend committed suicide in.
84	* CoolOldGuy: He's been in prison almost as long as Andy has been alive, and uses this experience to help him out.
85	* DeadpanSnarker: Particularly in the narration, he always has a quip ready for every situation.
86	* {{Deuteragonist}}: He is the second character of importance behind Andy, he is also the narrator of the story. As much focus is given to Red's character arc as is Andy's duel of wills with Warden Norton.
87	* DisappearedDad: In the book Red mentions he got married to due to a ShotgunWedding and implies that it was some time later (after the baby would have been born) that he killed his wife. His children is never mentioned elsewhere in the story, presumably having not forgiven him.
88	* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: He narrates the story while Andy is the main character.
89	* FriendInTheBlackMarket: Red's main role in prison is to help smuggle things in on request for the other inmates.
90	* GilliganCut: One of the most triumphant in film history.
91	-->'''Red:''' ''(after he's finished [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech tearing the parole board a new one]])'' So you go on right ahead and stamp your form, sonny, because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit. [[spoiler:Cut to the clerk stamping "''APPROVED]]''."
92	* HeterosexualLifePartners: He ends up good enough friends with Andy that he was the only outside party to know of the money laundering, Randal Stevens, can immediately guess correctly what the postcard meant from Andy, and follows him to Mexico.
93	* HopeIsScary: "Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
94	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Upon first seeing Andy arrive at Shawshank, Red picks him as the first to break down during "New Fish Night," because he "looked like a stiff breeze could blow him over." He soon discovers how wrong his summation was, as Andy not only stays stone silent during the night, he later proves himself very much a {{Determinator}} in regard to how many horrible trials he endures over the years at Shawshank.
95	* MagicalNegro: Despite this film being commonly cited as an example of this trope, it is actually an unusual race inversion of this trope. It is pure, angelic Andy who changes Red's life. Inverted on the meta level as well, because the casting called for a white actor with graying red hair (like in the book), but during auditions, Creator/MorganFreeman nailed the role so perfectly they cast him anyway.
96	* OceanAwe: At the end, he remarks on how blue the Pacific is in his dream.
97	* TheOldConvict: A lifer who knows the ropes at Maine's Shawshank State Prison.
98	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: No one who is casual with him calls him Ellis, just Red.
99	* OnlySaneMan: Comes off this way among his fellow inmates, like the BookDumb Heywood, or Andy, a BlitheSpirit with [[CloudCuckooLander cloudcukoolanderish]] tendencies.
100	* RaceLift: A redheaded Irishman in the novel, which gets [[MythologyGag a reference]] in the film.
101	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The third time Red goes before the parole board, he doesn't hold ''anything'' back. See BrutalHonesty above.
102	* RefugeInAudacity: Red's final parole hearing definitely qualifies. The first two times, he's quite polite and well-mannered - and gets denied both times. The final time, he shows up and tells them he straight up tells them [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech they have no idea what they're talking about and he doesn't give a shit what they do to him]] - and they let him go.
103	* TheScrounger: He's got the connections to smuggle damn near anything into the prison, from playing cards to sexy posters to a bag of reefer.
104	* SecretKeeper: He's the only person Andy reveals the details of Warden Norton's embezzlement scam to.
105	* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Red has this type of reaction a few times in the film.
106	** His reaction when Andy tells him of his laundering plan to him. After he tells him there was no way it wouldn't look suspicious, Andy tells him that even if it was, him and the Warden are safe because ''Randall Stephens'' is the man with the bank accounts. Red's opinion of Andy basically went to mastermind level right then and there.
107	** His biggest is when he sees the giant tunnel in Andy's cell, alongside Norton and Hadley.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Brooks]]
111	!!Brooks Hatlen
112	[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shawshankbrooks.png]]
113	[[caption-width-right:328:''"I doubt they'll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me."'']]
114	->'''Played By:''' Creator/JamesWhitmore
115
116	-->''"It's the only way they'll let me stay!"''
117
118	The elderly prison librarian, imprisoned since 1905 and librarian since 1912.
119	----
120	* AdaptationExpansion: Brooks is mentioned only in passing in the novella, whereas in the film he plays a very significant role in both Andy and Red's character development.
121	* BigOlEyebrows: Massive ginger and gray eyebrows that play a huge role in his expressive face.
122	* CoolOldGuy: One of the popular inmates, he's nice and educated. Red points out this is why he doesn't want to leave prison, as those assets won't mean much on the outside.
123	-->"The man's been here 50 years, Heywood. ''50 years.'' [[NotUsedToFreedom This is all he knows]]. In here he's an important man, an educated man. Out there he's nothin'. A used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Probably couldn't get a library card if he tried."
124	** According to the book, he had a degree in Animal Husbandry, and he was the only inmate who had gone to college, until Andy came along.
125	* DeadlyEuphemism: "I don't like it here. I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided [[DrivenToSuicide not to stay.]]"
126	* DrivenToSuicide: After being released on parole and feeling overwhelmed in a now-unfamiliar world, he hangs himself.
127	* FaceDeathWithDignity: He dresses up in his best suit and calmly hangs himself.
128	* GoodbyeCruelWorld: He writes a suicide note to his friends in jail.
129	* HiddenDepths: For being such a nice guy, it's hard to believe he killed his wife and daughter after a bad streak of poker.
130	* {{Manchild}}: Brooks has a childlike demeanor, to the point where it's shocking that he was convicted for murdering his wife and daughter. This takes a much darker turn once he's out in the real world and he has no idea how to operate in it, even in his suicide note he sounds like a confused kid who doesn't know what to do with himself.
131	* NiceGuy: He's very nice to the younger convicts, to the point that when he tries to kill Heywood, most of the others know he won't go through with it.
132	* NiceToTheWaiter: Initially set up as him running away, it turns out he was packing all of his things in a suitcase so that no one would be put to any trouble [[spoiler:when he committed suicide]].
133	* NothingPersonal: His final words to everyone he knew back in Shawshank was to tell Heywood he was sorry for trying to stab him, he was just scared at the moment.
134	* NoPlaceForMeThere: An interesting variation, as he's been in prison for so long he doesn't feel like he has a place in the world anymore, and eventually [[DrivenToSuicide he commits suicide in despair.]]
135	* NotUsedToFreedom: Why he attempts to "kill" Heywood, why he initially plans to rob stores and why he ultimately hangs himself: after 50 years in prison, he cannot anymore function outside.
136	-->'''Brooks:''' ''I have bad dreams at night sometimes, like I'm falling. I wake up scared. It takes me a while to remember where I am.''
137	* TheOldConvict: When he's finally paroled, he has been in prison for 50 years.
138	-->'''Brooks:''' ''I saw an automobile once when I was a kid. Now they're everywhere.''
139	* PetTheDog: He takes care of Jake, the baby raven. This is combined with BaitAndSwitch when he requests the grub Andy found in his meal.
140	* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Seeing the outside world moving too fast and not being able to obtain meaningful work within it causes his DrivenToSuicide moment.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Heywood]]
144	!!Heywood
145	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shawshankheywood.png]]
146	[[caption-width-right:350:''"You saying Andy's innocent? I mean 'for real' innocent? "'']]
147	->'''Played By:''' Creator/WilliamSadler
148
149	-->''"Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me."''
150
151	A member of Red's gang of long-serving convicts.
152	----
153	* BookDumb: His lack of knowledge in literature makes for a hilarious scene in which he misnames several books and authors. Also see InnocentlyInsensitive below.
154	* BreakThemByTalking: He taunts Fat Ass with tales of PrisonRape to make him break down and cry, so he can win the "new fish" bet.
155	* ButtMonkey: Heywood provides the brunt of the film's comedy relief mostly by being the butt of the most jokes (such as the horse apple sequence).
156	* CanonForeigner: Heywood and the rest of Red's gang aren't in the book.
157	* CharacterTic: Has a slight stutter.
158	* DeadpanSnarker: Not to the same extent as Red, but he does have his moments as well, particularly in the early scene when he's picking on Fat Ass.
159	* EveryoneHasStandards: He pushes new inmates to break down crying to win a bet, but he also doesn't want to see them hurt by Hadley, quietly hoping for the one he pushes to stop before it happens and being shocked at Hadley's brutality. He's also devastated the next day when he learns the inmate died.
160	* {{Fanboy}}: Of Music/HankWilliams. After Andy gets a collection of his records, Heywood is in the library listening and singing along to "Lovesick Blues".
161	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Heywood congratulates Brooks on his parole, not realizing that Brooks' long incarceration has left him socially and psychologically dependent on Shawshank prison. As a result, Heywood is shocked and hurt by Brooks' angry response. Red has to explain to him how [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_syndrome Institutional Syndrome]] works.
162	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The first clue we get that he isn't the sadist he appears to be is when he quietly begs for 'Fatass' to stop crying, knowing full well that Hadley will beat him for it. He's noticeably upset the next morning upon finding the man died of his injuries.
163	** When he's suddenly attacked by Brooks, the rest of the inmates immediately think that Heywood did something to piss the old convict off. Turns out he found out about Brooks's parole and only went to visit him to congratulate him and say goodbye.
164	** He was the one to answer bitterly to Andy regarding Fat Ass's name on the morning after Andy's first night. He was also the one who joyfully offered Andy a beer as a sign of gratitude during the roof-tarring job.
165	** He's extremely regretful when he gave Andy a six-foot-long rope when the others show concern that he might commit suicide. Andy didn't actually go through with it but still...
166	* KickTheDog: On Andy's first night in prison, Heywood causes one of the new inmates who was already distraught to breakdown crying, all for the sake of winning a bet with Red.
167	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Heywood evidently has two moments like this.
168	** When he scared Fat Ass to the point where he begins to cry out in fear in his cell, leading to Hadley beating him to death right in front of everyone. During all of it, Haywood was begging him to shut up. When he learned he died, it's evident that he has immense guilt over starting that whole ordeal.
169	** How he reacts when, after being told of Andy's supposed suicidal thoughts, he remembers giving Andy a lengthy rope, which he could use to hang himself in his cell. To his defense, there was no way he would know about it all since Andy has only talked to Red about it.
170	* NiceGuy: He doesn't look like anything like that at first but actually he is. His jerkass attitude is only a facade. Deep down he's a friendly and helpful guy when he shows his true good side.
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	[[folder:Tommy]]
174	!!Tommy Williams
175	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shawshanktommy.jpg]]
176	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Hey, c'mon, old boys! You're movin' like molasses! Makin' me look bad!"'']]
177	->'''Played By:''' Creator/GilBellows
178
179	-->''"I been in 'n out since I was thirteen, you name the place, chances are I been there."''
180
181	A young convict imprisoned for burglary in 1965.
182	----
183	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: His novella counterpart self-deprecatingly says his face is not much, and he loses three of his teeth when a guard knocks him out. He's given a more boyish appearance in the film and the incident with the guard is removed.
184	* AdaptationalHeroism: In the novella, Tommy keeps quiet about Andy's innocence in exchange for a transfer to a more comfortable prison that allows weekend visits for his family. In the film he resolves to help Andy [[spoiler:only for Norton and Hadley to murder Tommy before he can testify. Not to mention even when the Warden implies he'll make life hard for Tommy if he does testify, Tommy is adamant about helping Andy]].
185	* BookDumb: He needs lots of help with passing his GED, but is also willing to learn and proves surprisingly capable once he does.
186	* DeathByAdaptation: In the novella, Tommy isn't killed by Norton and Hadley, but rather given a transfer to a minimum-security prison in exchange for keeping quiet about Andy's innocence.
187	* {{Determinator}}: He is determined to get his GED. Red even says "something lit a fire under that boy's ass."
188	* HeKnowsTooMuch: Killed to make sure Andy isn't released.
189	* HiddenDepths: Red describes him as "finding brains he never knew he had" under Andy's tutelage.
190	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At first, he comes off as cocky and boisterous, bragging freely about the prison time he's done, but then it's revealed he wants to get his GED to make an honest living for his wife and infant daughter.
191	* MoralityPet: To Andy, not that he needed one.
192	* NeverLearnedToRead: By his own admission, he "don't read so good." Andy starts him from the beginning teaching him the alphabet before helping him with his GED.
193	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: His genuine desire to help Andy and determination to get an innocent man freed gets him killed.
194	* SacrificialLion: His subplot takes up a reasonable amount of screen time before he's killed off.
195	* StupidCrooks: He's been in an out of prison for pretty much his entire life, since he's in actuality a terrible criminal who [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin cant get away with anything]].
196	* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: He is abruptly killed by Norton and Hadley in the movie.
197	* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He sees himself as stupid, but Andy helps him learn that he's smarter than he thinks.
198	[[/folder]]
199
200	[[folder:Bogs]]
201	!!Bogs Diamond
202	[[quoteright:302:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/markroston.jpg]]
203	[[caption-width-right:302:''"Hey, we all need friends in here. I could be a friend to you."'']]
204	->'''Played By:''' Creator/MarkRolston
205
206	-->''"Now, I'm gonna open my fly and you're gonna swallow what I give ya to swallow."''
207
208	The head of "the Sisters" gang and a prison rapist.
209	----
210	* AdaptationalBadass: Villainous version. In the novella, Red notes that Bogs and his gang did assault Andy occasionally, but mostly left him alone because he gives them a hard fight every time, and the Sisters prefer easier prey. In the film he's more of a BloodKnight. He targets Andy deliberately, and at one point tells him, "Good. You fight. It's better that way."
211	* AdaptationalWeaponSwap: He carries a shiv in the film instead of a straight razor, presumably to make his threat to stab Andy more plausible.
212	* AintTooProudToBeg: He begs Hadley to stop and cries out for help when during his own attack. It doesn't work.
213	* AndIMustScream: He eventually gets beaten up so badly he's left permanently paralyzed and has to be fed through a tube while lying in bed for the rest of his life.
214	* ArchEnemy: To Andy, as he perennially abused and tortured him throughout the first half of the film. After Bogs' well-deserved beatdown and permanent crippling, Norton takes his place as Andy's archenemy.
215	* AssholeVictim: He's on the receiving end of a beatdown so vicious he ends up permanently paralyzed and invalid. His fate would invite sympathy had he not been such a vile piece of work prior.
216	* AxCrazy: He's a sadistic and psychopathic rapist who takes joy in raping and brutalizing other inmates simply ForTheEvulz.
217	* BookDumb: He backs down from trying to mouth-rape Andy after hearing that stabbing him through the ear would make him bite down hard. Anyone who ''isn't'' an ignorant fuck like Bogs would know that to be false.
218	* CompositeCharacter: With a couple of other Sisters from the book.
219	* DepravedBisexual: He doesn't care who he has sex with as long as he does it by force.
220	* DirtyCoward: Acts all smug and invincible when he has The Sisters to back him up. Take them out of the picture, surround ''him'' with a few guards, and watch how quickly he pathetically begs and screams for mercy.
221	* TheDreaded: He and the gang are this among the prison with Red telling Andy to watch out for them.
222	* EvilRedhead: In the movie, he's depicted as a redhead.
223	* FauxAffablyEvil: He tries to lure Andy in by promising to be a "friend" to him. The fact that he says this while leering openly in the shower makes it clear that he's a predator with no genuine likable traits.
224	* HateSink: '''THE''' most depraved and detestable character in the entire film, being a [[TheBully sadistic bully,]] a SerialRapist, and a DirtyCoward with absolutely zero redeeming qualities. He makes even [[BigBad Samuel Norton]] likeable in comparison. When he's beaten and left permanently crippled by the guards, you'll think it's the ''least'' he deserved.
225	* {{Jerkass}}: In general, he's a sadistic rapist who doesn't care who gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants.
226	* KickTheDog: '''Every single interaction''' he has with Andy counts, specifically the last one, where he beats him so bad, he sends him to the infirmary.
227	* LaserGuidedKarma: After attacking and raping Andy for two years, he beats Andy to within an inch of his life. Then after a week in the hole, he gets beaten to within an inch of his life by Hadley, permanently paralyzing him and making him every bit as helpless as he enjoyed his victims being.
228	* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Implied. When he has Andy at his mercy in the projection room he very sadistically asks him if he's going to scream.
229	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: He tends to inflict these on Andy, together with his gang. He [[LaserGuidedKarma gets a taste of his own medicine]] when Hadley inflicts a vicious beating on him, to the point that he's left unable to walk and has to drink from a straw.
230	* OhCrap: When Bogs sees Hadley in his cell prior to his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, uttering a weak-sounding "What?" before said beatdown begins.
231	* PrecisionFStrike: "I said '''FUCK OFF!!!'''"
232	* PrisonRape: His gang's favorite hobby is to rape weaker inmates.
233	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: And he takes absolutely joy in doing so.
234	* {{Sadist}}: As Red says, neither him and the rest of his gang are homosexual by nature implying that he rapes inmates to establish dominance while inflicting pain and humiliation.
235	* SerialRapist: It's strongly implied that Andy wasn't even his first victim.
236	* SissyVillain: He cries and screams as he tries to get away from Hadley before [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge he gets his shit ruined.]]
237	* SituationalSexuality: Red' comments imply Bogs and the Sisters aren't gay and simply enjoy raping people, and men are their only available targets in prison.
238	* SmugSnake: He thinks he can get away with everything. [[LaserGuidedKarma Unfortunately for him, he is wrong.]]
239	* TheSociopath: He rapes and brutalizes people without a shred of remorse, where even [[EvenEvilHasStandards Hadley is disgusted by him.]]
240	* TermsOfEndangerment: If his conversations with Andy are of any indication, he does this a lot with his victims.
241	-->'''Andy''': (''brandishing a handful of corrosive powder'') If you get this in your eyes, it blinds you.\
242	'''Bogs''': Honey. ''Hush''.
243	* TokenEvilTeammate: Most of the Shawshank inmates turn out to have a soft side deep down, but Bogs is rotten to the core.
244	* VillainBall: Once Andy established solid ties with the guards and the warden, you'd think Bogs would move onto another target, even if only so that that there's no chance of any reprisals coming from the prison officials, who have a vested interest in Andy being alive and well, and who have also fully established that they have no compunctions about arranging "accidents" for inmates or giving prisoners life altering (or life ending) beatings. Instead when Andy talks back to him Bogs beats Andy to a bloody pulp and it never seems to cross his mind that he might face greater consequences than a little time in solitary for it. Then he was taken back to his cell and came face to face with Captain Hadley.
245	* VillainousBreakdown: Bogs is often calm and collected during his heinous acts, but when he gets beaten by Hadley, he loses his composure and starts screaming for help.
246	* VillainsWantMercy: He begs Hadley to stop during his vicious beatdown. It's about as effective as you'd expect.
247	[[/folder]]
248
249	[[folder:Blatch]]
250	!!Elmo Blatch
251	[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elmo.jpg]]
252	[[caption-width-right:340:''"So I killed him. Him and this tasty bitch he was with."'']]
253	->'''Played By:''' Bill Bolender
254
255	* AdaptationNameChange: In the novella, it's ''Elwood'' Blatch, nicknamed "El."
256	* AmbiguousSituation: The novella leaves it a bit questionable whether he really did the murders, as he gets a few details wrong and is pegged by multiple people as definitely capable of making something like that up, on top of the massive coincidence on the timing. The movie makes it more clear that he did.
257	* AxCrazy: Just ''listen'' to the way he reminisces killing Andy's wife and her lover for proof that he's this.
258	* BaldOfEvil: In the novella, Tommy describes him as "mostly bald" (In the movie, his hairline seems to be pretty high up there, but he doesn't seem to be what you would call "bald").
259	* EvilIsPetty: He killed Andy's wife and her lover for no reason than that the man woke up during Blatch's burglary of his house and "gave me shit." He was delighted at the discovery that they blamed someone else for the crime.
260	* EvilLaugh: A chillingly realistic one. He's laughing because he thinks what he did is funny.
261	* HairTriggerTemper: Tommy put it best in the novella.
262	-->'''Tommy Williams:''' He was just so fucking high-strung! Like a pistol with a sawed-off firing pin. I knew a guy who had a Smith and Wesson Police Special with a sawed-off firing pin. It wasn't no good for nothing, except maybe for something to jaw about. The pull on that gun was so light that it would fire if this guy, Johnny Callahan, his name was, if he turned his record-player on full volume and put it on top of one of the speakers. That's how Elmo Blatch was. I can't explain it any better. I just never doubted that he had greased some people.
263	* KarmaHoudini: He ended up in prison for a lesser crime than murder and with a relatively short sentence (6-12 years). Meanwhile, another person is in prison for ''life'' and serves ''19'' years for the crime he committed.
264	* MilesGloriosus: Villainous version. At least, it's ambiguous as to whether or not he's really committed all the crimes he boasts about, and Tommy finds it hard to believe that someone that twitchy and aggressive could have robbed more than a hundred houses. However, he never doubts that he's done ''some'' of what he says, and that's scary enough. Not to mention the fact that if he got the chance to do what he boasted of, he would.
265	-->'''Red:''' I've known a few Elwood Blatches in my time at Shawshank -- the trigger-pullers with the crazy eyes. Such fellows want you to think they got away with the equivalent of the Hope Diamond on every caper, even if they got caught with a two-dollar Timex and nine bucks on the one they're doing time for.
266	* MoodWhiplash: He's speech goes from cold and venomous to a creepy, wheezing cackle in an instant.
267	* MotorMouth: Tommy was his cellmate, and said that one of the most notable things about him was that "he never shut up about places he'd been, jobs he'd pulled, women he fucked or people he killed."
268	* SlasherSmile Complete with a creepy, wheezing laugh.
269	* SmugSnake: He talks freely about the crime he got away with committing in his prison cell, knowing he will most likely get away with it.
270	* TheSociopath: He murders people without a shred of remorse or empathy, and even laughs when an innocent man is sent to prison in his place.
271	* VillainOfAnotherStory: A psychotic career criminal who decides to commit murders based on whether or not someone gives him shit. It's all but stated that he has a much longer rap sheet than what we hear.
272	[[/folder]]
273
274	[[folder:Floyd]]
275	!!Floyd
276	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/43469_17129.jpg]]
277	[[caption-width-right:320:''"Red, I do believe you're talking out of your ass."'']]
278	->'''Played By:''' Brian Libby
279
280	* TheBigGuy: He's the tallest member of Red's group of friends.
281	* DeadpanSnarker: His wit is as dry as the rock of Shawshank's walls.
282	-->'''Heywood:''' ''(reading off the book title) [[Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo Count of Monte Crisco.]]''\
283	'''Floyd:''' That's ''Cristo'', you dumb shit.
284	* HiddenDepths: As seen above, he's apparently familiar with ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', at least enough to know that Heywood's gotten the title wrong.
285	* NumberTwo: He's sort of Red's unofficial second-in-command, or at least the one he respects the most among his fellow guys.
286	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The only time we see Floyd seriously worried is when he runs down the stairs in a near-panic to get Andy and Red because Brooks has a knife to Heywood's throat.
287	* OralFixation: Out of all of Red's crew, Floyd is the one who spends the most time smoking.
288	* PerpetualFrowner: Rarely wears any look but a sour one.
289	* TheStoic: Very cool and taciturn.
290	[[/folder]]
291
292	%%[[folder:Skeet]]
293	%%!!Skeet
294	%%[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmtmyode3ntm1ml5bml5banbnxkftztcwmzqxndy3mw_v1.jpg]]
295	%%[[/folder]]
296
297	%%[[folder:Jigger]]
298	%%!!Jigger
299	%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/db27e0502a6649ee817e47842b340db2.png]]
300	%%[[/folder]]
301
302	%%[[folder:Snooze]]
303	%%!!Snooze
304	%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ce1082ae74694d90967f52155ed4cef7.png]]
305	%%[[/folder]]
306
307	%%[[folder:Ernie]]
308	%%!!Ernie
309	%%[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/21365_17129.jpg]]
310	%%[[/folder]]
311
312	!Staff of Shawshank Penitentiary
313
314	[[folder:Norton]]
315	!!Warden Samuel Norton
316	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TropeNorton_1048.jpg]]
317	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank."'']]
318	->'''Played By:''' Creator/BobGunton
319
320	-->''"I believe in two things, discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both."''
321
322	The prison's unbelievably corrupt warden.
323	----
324	* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: '''EVERYONE''' in the prison hates his guts. Hell, even the guards don't seem to miss him when he [[spoiler:[[AteHisGun eats his gun.]]]]
325	* AdaptationalVillainy: A small but very crucial change is made the film to turn him from an evil character to a ''purely'' evil one. Norton isn't any less of a corrupt, hypocritical bastard in the novella and he still suppresses evidence of Andy's innocence out of both greed and spite, but he doesn't go so far as to have Tommy murdered to cover it up, instead buying his silence by transferring him to a cushier prison with a weekend furlough program.
326	* ArchEnemy: Becomes this to Andy Dufresne by systematically ruining his life, just because he wanted to keep Andy in prison to cook the books.
327	* BaitTheDog: He's initially set up as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, before gradually showing what a slimy bastard he really is.
328	* BigBad: The brutal and corrupt warden of Shawshank.
329	* BerserkButton: ''Never'' call him obtuse under any circumstances, unless you ''want'' two months of solitary confinement.
330	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:Chooses to commit suicide instead of being arrested and most likely winding up wearing a number in the same prison he managed for decades.]]
331	* BitchInSheepsClothing: He seems like a straight-and-narrow guy with a rigid by-the-book philosophy. Only later is it revealed he's actually a ruthless {{Hypocrite}}, a thief and a murderer.
332	* BlatantLies: "Broke Hadley's heart to kill him."
333	* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: He's the smooth to Hadley's rough.
334	* ChurchgoingVillain: Norton loves God and the Bible... too bad he seems to love his evil more.
335	* ClassicVillain: {{Pride}}, Ambition, Greed and Wrath.
336	* CompositeCharacter: He's a composite of various characters from the novella; in that, Shawshank prison was run by several different figures with varying degrees of cruelty.
337	* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:In the novella, he doesn't kill himself, but rather resigns in embarrassment after Andy's escape (mind, he never orchestrates anyone's murder in the original story, either). He's arguably a KarmaHoudini in the novella, too, since the criminal actions he still does commit go undiscovered.]]
338	* DirtyCoward: He is willing to murder someone, and deliberately keep someone else in prison for a crime he didn't commit, in order to protect himself from being arrested for money laundering. [[spoiler:In the end, he'd rather shoot himself than spend a single day as an inmate in Shawshank]].
339	* DisproportionateRetribution: He sends Andy to solitary confinement for a month for calling him obtuse and bringing up the money laundering operation after he asks to be freed after finding solid evidence that proves he's innocent. It seems to be mainly motivated by the first part, considering how he mockingly [[IronicEcho echoes]] it while taunting Andy [[spoiler:about how he killed Tommy]], threatening him, and sentencing him to another month of it just to be an asshole.
340	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Rather than allow the police to arrest him, he shoots himself in the head.]]
341	* FateWorseThanDeath: Kills himself to avoid this. [[spoiler:He knew if he allowed the authorities to take him then he would end up an inmate in his own horrific prison, and the other inmates would have made his life '''HELL'''.]]
342	* FauxAffablyEvil: His politeness at the beginning carries an entirely different tone upon viewing his heinous acts.
343	* FourEyesZeroSoul: This bespectacled man is pure evil.
344	* HateSink: Warden Norton was written to be a completely unsympathetic character, and it shows. You may appreciate the scripting and Bob Gunton's portrayal of a genuinely menacing antagonist, but you will absolutely ''loathe'' this man by the end of the film.
345	* HidingBehindReligion: [[{{Hypocrite}} He claims to love the Bible, but he does some thoroughly un-Christian things (murder, punishing people for crimes he knows they didn't commit, and pilfering money)]]. Not to mention as the film progresses he seems less interested in God and more in his own public image.
346	* {{Hypocrite}}:
347	** Of the religious variety (see above). When no one can explain [[spoiler:Andy's escape]], he snarls [[spoiler:"Lord, it's a miracle! The man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!"]] That type of snark doesn't fit well on a man of such supposed piousness as Warden Norton.
348	** He justifies his ruthless approach as the proper punishment of the criminals in Shawshank. Except, even by the [[DeliberateValuesDissonance standards of his time]], Norton is himself a serious criminal who violates the laws he claims to uphold seemingly at will, including engaging in bribery, evidence tampering, and murder - mostly for personal gain. The irony seems completely lost on him, even right up to the moment he [[spoiler:shoots himself rather than be sent to prison]].
349	* {{Irony}}:
350	** He states that he hates it when God's name is used in vain... and yet he states a different curse word several seconds afterward, in his case, the "A"-word (despite the fact that the Bible also condemns swearing).
351	** The Bible he gives to Andy at the start of the movie [[spoiler:plays a big part in his escape at the end of it.]]
352	** He commits suicide -- which is a violation of the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill."
353	** In the broader sense, the pious authority figure is more evil than any of the inmates.
354	* {{Jerkass}}: In addition to being a greedy hypocrite, he's also very harsh towards Andy.
355	* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Initially, Norton seems like a ReasonableAuthorityFigure doing what he has to to run the prison, and even after it becomes clear he's corrupt, he still helps Andy out to repay him for the laundering scheme, indicating that he's corrupt but not necessarily evil. [[spoiler:After throwing Andy in solitary confinement, he goes up to Tommy and talks with him, having apparently changed his mind and now willing to let Andy go; the second Tommy says he'll gladly testify that Andy is innocent, Norton has him killed.]]
356	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: His suicide as a ChurchgoingVillain. Suicide is a big no-no in the Bible, so according to the faith he claims the believe in, he basically bought a ticket to hell with that action.]]
357	* KickTheDog: After having [[spoiler:Tommy]] murdered, he throws Andy in isolation for two months while bragging that he plans on destroying everything Andy built to make Shawshank a better place if Andy doesn't help him in his money laundering.
358	* LackOfEmpathy: He doesn't care for how much he's making Andy suffer by refusing to let him go free legitimately. It comes back to bite him in the ass when Andy escapes anyway and gets incriminating evidence of his illegal activities to the authorities.
359	* LargeHam: After spending the entire film composed, Norton starts ChewingTheScenery during his VillainousBreakdown after [[spoiler:Andy escapes]].
360	* LaserGuidedKarma: After committing heinous acts for the better part of the movie, he is about to get arrested by the police for everything he did while the man he kept imprisoned wrongly runs free. Surrounded, he opts to shoot himself instead. It's made better by the fact that his own favorite Bible passage is about judgment.
361	* NobleDemon: In the novel, where he simply sends Tommy to a nicer prison to keep him from revealing Andy's innocence. And he does throw Andy some bones...[[spoiler:but won't hesitate to destroy Andy's life to keep his illicit money hidden]].
362	* NonActionBigBad: Norton has his authority to enforce his threats and attack dogs like Hadley to back him up. He doesn't need to get his own hands dirty.
363	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After spending the entire film being smug and composed, he starts yelling and throws a tantrum after [[spoiler:Andy escapes]].
364	* PetTheDog: Surprisingly, he does have a few moments of this.
365	** He personally mails Andy's letters to the state requesting additional funds for the prison as promised, and continues doing so for years despite believing it a waste of time.
366	** Pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but he lets Andy and Red have the apple pie baked by his friend's wife, which is actually quite a blessing considering what prison food tastes like. Though considering that he's just keeping Andy around for laundering money, this could potentially just be Norton lowering Andy's guard.
367	** Has Captain Hadley beat Bogs to within an inch of his life, leaving him permanently crippled, after Bogs hospitalizes Andy. Mind, this was [[PragmaticVillainy only because Andy had been helping Norton cook the books]], and Norton didn't [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou want his golden goose dead]].
368	** After Andy is out of solitary, Norton tells him that it's good having him back and "the place wasn't the same without him." Subverted in that it's heavily implied to just be Norton rubbing in Andy's predicament further rather than expressing any kind of genuine appreciation.
369	* PrecisionFStrike: The Warden does not swear as much as the other characters, but when he does it is for effect. Examples include "your ass belongs to me" in his welcome speech to the new inmates, "Don't talk about money in here, you sorry son of a bitch" when Andy brings up the money laundering scheme and a particularly jarring example when he threatens to throw Andy to the mercy of the prison rapists "You'll think you've been fucked by a train."
370	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Subverted. He initially seems to be one of the more reasonable and sympathetic of the guards at Shawshank, but is slowly revealed to be a liar, hypocrite, coward, sadist and murderer.
371	* {{Sadist}}: He shows evil pleasure in threatening Andy to leave him at the "mercy" of the prison rapists and to destroy everything he had built if he refuses to help him in his money laundering scheme. This means that not only does he have ''zero'' remorse in destroying innocent lives if it benefits him; he also likes doing it. He even makes Andy shine his shoes after he gets out of solitary, seemingly as extra punishment and to keep him in his place.
372	* SatanicArchetype: Like Shawshank represents Hell then Norton is basically a mortal version of Satan. He's the main reason why the prison is so corrupted and wretched. He's willing to make pacts with some inmates and give them some privileges but that is guaranteed only so long as they are useful to him. Once he no longer needs them, he will throw them away. Ironic considering that he presents himself like a devout Christian.
373	* SmugSnake: He's a smug, self-righteous hypocrite who clearly believes that he's got Andy under his thumb and takes great joy in tormenting him the second Andy pisses him off, reveling in the fact he can't do anything to retaliate. [[spoiler:After Andy escapes and exposes his crooked operation, Norton immediately crumbles.]]
374	* TheSociopath: Particularly chilling is the manner in which he approaches Andy over Tommy's shooting, telling him how it [[BlatantLies "broke Hadley's heart"]] to kill the man as he was "trying to escape." Norton has absolutely ''no'' empathy whatsoever, and it is legitimately unnerving to see just how unfazed he is about the suffering he causes for his many victims.
375	* StealingFromTheTill: His money laundering is why he [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou can't allow Andy to be freed]]. Andy even notes he's gotten kickbacks on his kickbacks.
376	* TakingYouWithMe: Subverted. [[spoiler:After locking himself in his office with the police closing in on him, Norton aims his gun at the door as the cops threaten to barge in. After a few seconds, he reconsiders and just blows his own brains out.]]
377	* TantrumThrowing: At the end, during his VillainousBreakdown, he throws a tantrum about a conspiracy and starts throwing Andy's chess pieces around. Throwing the chess pieces causes even Hadley to flinch.
378	* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:Granted, his VillainousBreakdown may have prevented him from thinking straight, but one would expect a crook who is cold enough to eliminate threats to his operation like he did Tommy to take such precautions as disappearing after the escape of the one person who could expose him. It's possible Norton didn't believe Andy had any credible way of exposing his crimes without getting himself arrested again. He was unaware that Andy had stolen his ledger until he read the newspaper revealing Norton's money laundering scheme.]]
379	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: He sets himself up as a philanthropic ReasonableAuthorityFigure to the public who's letting his prisoners contribute to society to the public, when in actuality it's part of his money laundering operation.
380	* VillainsOutShopping: Bad guy or not, he's still got taxes to do.
381	* VillainousBreakdown: He starts ranting about a supposed conspiracy when [[spoiler:Andy escapes from Shawshank, even accusing his poster of Creator/RaquelWelch of being in on it]].
382	* WardensAreEvil: One of the most monstrous characters in Shawshank, and he's in charge of the place.
383	[[/folder]]
384
385	[[folder:Hadley]]
386	!!Capt. Byron T. Hadley
387	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TropeHadley_9396.jpg]]
388	[[caption-width-right:350:''"You eat when we say you eat. You shit when we say you shit. You piss when we say you piss. You got that, you maggot dick motherfucker?"'']]
389	->'''Played By:''' Creator/ClancyBrown
390
391	-->''"[[CatchPhrase On your feet!]]"''
392
393	The brutal captain of the prison guards.
394	----
395	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the novella, Hadley is described as "shambling" and "horse-faced." In the movie, he's portrayed by handsome, intimidating, straight-backed Creator/ClancyBrown in his prime.
396	* AdaptationalVillainy: Like Norton, he's definitely a nasty piece of work in the novella, but is never stated to have taken anyone's life during his time working at Shawshank, and is forced to retire due to a heart attack before Tommy ever arrives at the prison.
397	* AxCrazy: He's got a lot of issues under that thin lid of calm, considering that he beats and kills the inmates in Shawshank over minor infractions.
398	* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Though it was for selfish reasons at Norton's command, Hadley unquestionably did Andy a favor by getting rid of [[spoiler:Bogs]].
399	* BeneathTheMask: Underneath his tough-guy persona is [[spoiler:a complete coward. When he faces the prospect of being locked in prison without the privilege of being a prison guard, he weeps like a baby]].
400	* BerserkButton: Too many to count, including, but not limited to, crying, making noise, mentioning his wife, asking questions he dislikes and just being in his presence when he's in a foul mood which is pretty much all the time.
401	* CatchPhrase: ''"On your feet!"''
402	* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: He's the rough to Norton's smooth.
403	* CharacterTic: Hadley has a tendency to take off his hat before he begins beating on someone. The only time he removes his hat ''respectfully'' is when he walks Andy into Norton's office.
404	* CompositeCharacter: Of several different guards in the original novella.
405	* DeadpanSnarker: Loves mixing dry remarks and quips into his threats. He'd almost be funny were it not paired with some truly savage violence.
406	* DirtyCop: A dirty prison guard in his case. He's openly sadistic, engages in brutal beatings (see NoHoldsBarredBeatdown) for crimes as minor as ''crying'', outright kills inmates and helps Norton murder Tommy to keep their corrupt money-making schemes going.
407	* DirtyCoward: His toughness completely disappears when he is arrested for murder at which point he is said to have "started sobbing like a little girl," knowing just how awful prison is going to be for an ex-guard.
408	* DisproportionateRetribution: He has leeway on this given his job requires him to keep an extremely tight leash on the inmates at all times to keep them under control. He still crosses it when beating an inmate to death for crying and very nearly murdering Andy for implying that his wife was unfaithful.
409	* TheDragon: To Norton. While Norton was the one who planned killing Tommy, it was Hadley who carried it out.
410	* TheDreaded: Casts a huge, fearsome shadow over the entire prison. His very presence inspires fear and obedience.
411	* EntitledBastard: Inherits $35,000 (equivalent to roughly $453,550 in 2024) and all he can do is complain about the taxes he'll have to pay on it. In the novella, Red says he's the only man he's ever known who had the nerve to bitch about inheriting thousands of dollars.
412	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He has a wife and kids, who he clearly cares for. Averted with his brother, who he doesn't care about remotely and doesn't mourn his passing due to an apparent estrangement.
413	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Given that he savagely beats him to the point of paralysis on Norton's orders and his look of seething hatred towards him just prior, it's heavily implied that even he's disgusted by Bogs and his [[SerialRapist actions]].
414	* EvilSoundsDeep: Has a lower and deeper voice than most characters. It helps that he's played by notoriously deep-voiced Clancy Brown.
415	* FloweryInsults: Hadley seemingly thinks of insults in his spare time. To be fair to him, they're all pretty creative, so perhaps he missed his calling as a poet.
416	* HairTriggerTemper: Anything and everything pisses off Hadley; he's in a perpetually foul mood and reacts violently to whatever the inmates do.
417	* {{Hypocrite}}: Beats an inmate to death for crying in fear. He later does the same when arrested for murder with Red saying he heard he started "sobbing like a little girl." One can only imagine what his own first night in prison is going to be like.
418	* InelegantBlubbering: [[spoiler:The narration reveals that Hadley cried like a little girl when the authorities came to arrest him for his crimes.]]
419	* {{Jerkass}}: He's about as pleasant as you'd expect a short-tempered, needlessly violent corrupt sadist to be. Red very accurately calls him a "colossal prick."
420	* KickTheDog: Regularly does this to anyone unfortunate enough to piss him off with his savagely beating a prisoner for crying at the beginning really taking the cake.
421	* KickTheSonOfABitch: Cornering an unarmed prisoner fresh out of solitary in his own cell and beating him so bad he ends up permanently paralyzed would be a monstrous thing to do... if Hadley hadn't done it to [[SerialRapist Bogs]].
422	* LackOfEmpathy: He never expresses any remorse or unease about his cruel actions, not even seeming to care very much that he killed a man.
423	* LargeAndInCharge: He's head of the guards and played by the 6'3" Clancy Brown.
424	* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:It's deeply satisfying to know that he cried like a little girl while being arrested, especially since years earlier he'd beaten an inmate to death for crying. To say nothing of his eventual fate of going to prison after years of abusing his power in one and as an ex-guard to boot.]]
425	* ALighterShadeOfBlack: As bad as he is, Hadley's villainy is low-key compared to the diabolical warden that is pulling the strings, and unlike Norton, he has a few sincere PetTheDog moments during the film.
426	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: He doles these out like he's Santa Claus and everyone asked for internal bleeding for Christmas.
427	* NobleDemon: Somewhat. While he is a mercilessly unpleasant man, he can be generous to inmates who do favors for him, giving Andy the beers he promised after helping him with taxes and later beating the crap out of Bogs on Andy's behalf.
428	* PaperTiger: [[spoiler:When he ends up being arrested, he apparently cried, revealing him to a petty bully who only hurts those weaker than him]].
429	* PerpetualFrowner: Not once does he ever have anything but a look of barely concealed volatile anger or misery on his face.
430	* PetTheDog: He beats up Andy's rapist to the point that the man is permanently disabled; presumably this is because Andy gave him financial advice (in the novella, Red thinks Andy most likely bribed some of the guards to do it), or he's just following Norton's orders to protect his golden goose. He was also kind enough to point out Andy to fellow guard Dekins, who needed financial advice. In the scene where he almost throws Andy off the roof and gets bargained out of it, he held up his end of the deal and gave him and his crew cold beers and as Red put it, "the colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous".
431	* PoliceBrutality: NoHoldsBarredBeatdown is his specialty.
432	* PsychoForHire: He shows no sympathy for any of the inmates, which may be why Norton lets him have his way.
433	* SchlubbyScummySecurityGuard: Hadley is the corrupt and vicious chief guard at Shawshank Prison. When inmate Bogs Diamond assaults Andy Dufresne--who is laundering money for Hadley and his boss, Warden Samuel Norton--Hadley retaliates by brutally assaulting Bogs, rendering him a paraplegic.
434	* SirSwearsALot: He's likely to say multiple curse words in a single sentence.
435	* TheSociopath: A low-functioning example. He hasn't a lick of empathy for practically anyone, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes maybe except for his wife and kids]], brutalizes people for even the smallest matters, and is generally a remorseless prick.
436	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: When he's arrested, he knows just how awful it's going to be, especially because he is a prison guard.
437	* TokenEvilTeammate: While all the guards of Shawshank aren't nice, he's the only one who would go so far is as to kill an inmate.
438	[[/folder]]
439
440	!D.A.'s Office
441
442	[[folder:1946D.A.]]
443	!! 1946 D.A.
444	[[quoteright:968:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/426a88bee5b4cc388c54a61fca07c565_2.jpg]]
445	->'''Played By:''' Creator/JeffreyDemunn
446
447	The district attorney who prosecuted Andy for the murders of Mrs. Dufresne and Glenn Quentin.
448	----
449	* AdaptationalHeroism: In the novella, he hopes to use Andy's trial to help him in the political world.
450	* AmoralAttorney: Averted, he genuinely believes Andy was guilty of the crime he was on trial for, helped by the circumstantial evidence suggesting Andy did it.
451	* CoolOldGuy: The film depicts him as a well-spoken and intelligent older prosecutor.
452	* EntertaininglyWrong: On paper, he has an OpenAndShutCase: Andy bought a .38 caliber revolver before the murders of Mrs. Dufresne and Glenn Quentin, both of the victims had .38 caliber bullets in their bodies, the tire tracks outside the crime scene match Andy's car, and the bourbon bottle left outside the crime scene has Andy's fingerprints on them. The only fact he gets wrong is the identity of the murderer.
453	* EveryoneHasStandards: He invokes this when describing what he believes to be Andy's murders, saying that while his wife and her lover had done something wrong, they didn't deserve to die for it and drawing a clear distinction between an understandable if still wrong crime of passion and cold-blooded murder.
454	* PunchClockVillain: Is merely doing his job prosecuting Andy, believing him to be guilty.
455	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Only appears at the start of the movie, but is the one who convinced the jury in Andy's trial of his guilt.
456	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / TheShawshankRedemption