Shutter Island (Film) Essay Questions

Who is Andrew Laeddis?

Teddy Daniels initially believes in his delusions that Andrew Laeddis is the name of the arsonist who killed his wife, and who is currently being kept at Ashecliffe. However, Andrew Laeddis is in fact Teddy himself. Laeddis was committed to Shutter Island after murdering his wife for drowning their three children. During his two years as a patient at the facility, Andrew created and maintained an alter-ego, that of U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, on a mission to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando (an anagram for his wife's name, Dolores Chanal). Teddy only realizes that he is Andrew Laeddis when, at the lighthouse, Cawley shows him pictures of his children, forcing him to remember the circumstances of their deaths.

What is the symbolic and plot-level significance of the lighthouse?

The lighthouse is the place where Ashecliffe doctors perform lobotomies, which Teddy learns from George Noyce in Ward C, and also the place Teddy believes Chuck is being held captive. Dolores tries to keep Teddy away from the lighthouse because it is where Teddy will eventually find out that he is not Teddy at all, but rather Andrew Laeddis. The lighthouse is a complex symbol that conveys illumination and knowledge as the place where Teddy finds out the truth, and also darkness and violence as the place where trans-orbital lobotomies are inflicted upon Ashecliffe's hopeless cases.

What is the symbolism of the fog in the opening shot?

Scorsese opens the film with a shot of a ferry drifting through fog in order to convey the fact that certain events and motives are being concealed from the audience, making the true nature of various scenes difficult to perceive. The tense mood during Ted and Chuck's ascent to Ashecliffe, for instance, initiallly seems to result from an escaped patient, when in fact it stems from Teddy himself. Teddy is, himself, stuck in a delusional fog, unable to realize that he has already been living at Ashecliffe for two years, under the care of his primary physician who is role-playing as his U.S. Marshal partner, Chuck Aule.

What does "The Law of 4" mean?

Teddy finds this written on a note found in the first Rachel Solando's empty cell. "The Law of 4" refers to the ritual significance of the number four in Teddy's delusional world. An aerial shot at the end of the film showing Teddy's three dead children and his dead wife lined up in a row emphasizes the fact that Teddy's trauma derives from four sudden and shocking murders, all committed on the same afternoon. Cawley's chalkboard illustration of the fact that Teddy has transliterated "ANDREW LAEDDIS" and "DOLORES CHANAL" into "TEDDY DANIELS" and "RACHEL SOLANDO" also reflects the four appellations that correlate in Teddy's mind.

What does the last line of the film mean?

Teddy asks Chuck whether it would "be better to live as a monster or die as a good man" at the film's end. The line suggests that Teddy has two options facing him: struggle to remain in control of his delusions and remain at Ashecliffe indefinitely, or give into them and the prospect of a lobotomy procedure. Teddy seems to regress, but whether or not he actually regresses or simply pretends to regress because he realizes a lobotomy is the more humane option, is left ambiguous. Whether or not Teddy is really a "monster" or a "good man," especially given the traumatic events he has experienced, is left for the audience to evaluate.