Shutter Island Symbolism Essay
Shutter Island Symbolism Essay
In Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese uses symbolism to reflect the idea of conflict between fantasy and reality for Andrew Laeddis. Scorsese uses water, fire and the lighthouse to convey this idea.
In Shutter Island, water traps Teddy Daniels on Shutter Island. It always acts as a barrier and it stops Teddy from investigating the island. The water surrounds and traps him on the island and distorts Teddy’s vision and other things like the word “RUN” that he was given by one of the patients. The water stops him from getting to the lighthouse because of the stormy seas and the storm with its heavy rain stops him from conducting a proper investigation of Ashecliffe, it is always in the way for Teddy. The water symbolism could have been caused by the drowning of Andrew’s children by his wife, Dolores, which develops Andrew’s unfortunate past with water. This is shown when the woman he is interviewing picks up a glass of water and in the next shot it is gone, Andrew could be blanking this out because of the drowning of his children.
Another symbol used in Shutter Island is fire. Fire is usually used when Teddy is hallucinating like in Ward C when he is holding up a match and his wife starts talking to him. Teddy also says that Andrew Laeddis “lit the match that killed my wife”, which does develop a history with fire. An alternate portrayal of Shutter Island is that he is the Pyromaniac that killed his wife, because of the constant depictions and imagery of matches in his hands. He is also knowledgeable on how to start fires when he explodes Dr Crawleys car with a fuse made from his tie. He always carries guilt around from the death of his wife which may be why he said that it was the smoke that got her not the fire. He is saying it wasn’t him, it was the smoke.
The third symbol Scorsese uses is the lighthouse on Shutter Island. He is at first told that it is for sewage treatment but later believes that Dr Crawley is performing experiments
In Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese uses symbolism to reflect the idea of conflict between fantasy and reality for Andrew Laeddis. Scorsese uses water, fire and the lighthouse to convey this idea.
In Shutter Island, water traps Teddy Daniels on Shutter Island. It always acts as a barrier and it stops Teddy from investigating the island. The water surrounds and traps him on the island and distorts Teddy’s vision and other things like the word “RUN” that he was given by one of the patients. The water stops him from getting to the lighthouse because of the stormy seas and the storm with its heavy rain stops him from conducting a proper investigation of Ashecliffe, it is always in the way for Teddy. The water symbolism could have been caused by the drowning of Andrew’s children by his wife, Dolores, which develops Andrew’s unfortunate past with water. This is shown when the woman he is interviewing picks up a glass of water and in the next shot it is gone, Andrew could be blanking this out because of the drowning of his children.
Another symbol used in Shutter Island is fire. Fire is usually used when Teddy is hallucinating like in Ward C when he is holding up a match and his wife starts talking to him. Teddy also says that Andrew Laeddis “lit the match that killed my wife”, which does develop a history with fire. An alternate portrayal of Shutter Island is that he is the Pyromaniac that killed his wife, because of the constant depictions and imagery of matches in his hands. He is also knowledgeable on how to start fires when he explodes Dr Crawleys car with a fuse made from his tie. He always carries guilt around from the death of his wife which may be why he said that it was the smoke that got her not the fire. He is saying it wasn’t him, it was the smoke.
The third symbol Scorsese uses is the lighthouse on Shutter Island. He is at first told that it is for sewage treatment but later believes that Dr Crawley is performing experiments