Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Warden Norton

For a while there, the warden doesn't seem all that bad. He rules with an iron fist, sure, but these are bad people. What's he supposed to do—buy them all ice cream and give them gold stars?

However, as the film progresses, we realize that Norton is a worse egg than all those other rotten eggs taking up space in his prison. He subjects inmates to cruel and unusual punishment when it's hardly deserved; he'll bribe, blackmail or extort to make a small profit on the side, and he isn't above having some innocent guy offed if it means eliminating a threat of exposure. He blocks Andy's one shot at exoneration by killing the man who could exonerate him. Then he blocks Andy's attempt to quit conspiring with him by throwing him into the dreaded Hole for a couple of months and threatening to dismantle Andy's beloved library. In fact, he's an expert in squashing any behavior that hints of freedom on Andy's part.