An Island of Dreams

In the article Psychoanalysis of Dreams: Dream Theory and Its Relationship to Literature and Popular Culture, Walden and Poch point out that Freud’s “greatest influence for his entire career may have been the first novel that he read, where ‘the hero went mad’ at the end of the book.” The unnamed novel inspired the thought behind Freud’s theories of dream interpretation, which have in turn inspired the new thoughts behind popular culture.

Allusions to Freud are evident in the movie Shutter Island. In this thriller, U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo Dicaprio) is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. Before long he wongers whether he hasn’t been brought to the island as part of a twisted plot by the hospital doctors, whose treatments seem to be unethical, illegal, and sinister. Teddy carries baggage of his own, dealing with the recent death of his wife in an apartment fire and being haunted by the memory of Nazi concentration camps. As Teddy works on the investigation, he discovers that not is all as it seems.

As discussed in the Pathos of the Unconscious article by David J. LeMaster, dream sequences were used to develop a relationship between Charlie the Tramp and the audience by representing his dreams of success and deep fear of failure as “The American Dream.”  In Shutter Island, dream sequences are used to reveal the true character of Teddy Daniels to the audience.

Teddy often dreams about his wife, daughters, fire and water. We eventually learn that these dreams are manifestations of Teddy’s repressed past in which his insane wife drowned their three children, fueling his subsequent murder of her. He also has daydreams and hallucinations involving images of his wife and children, as well as of his time spent in the army, which helps the audience understand that he is not mentally stable.

In addition to these aspects of the movie involving Freudian thought, Dr. Naehring in the movie in an allusion to Freud himself; he even has a German accent and round glasses. At one point in the movie Teddy pins him against the wall, and Dr. Naehring gives his own interpretation of Teddy’s dreams when he says “Did you know that the word ‘trauma’ comes from the Greek word for ‘wound’? Hmm? And what is the German word for ‘dream’? Traum. Ein Traum. Wounds can create monsters, and you, you are wounded, Marshal.”

This movie uses dreams and delusions to reveal the truth behind Teddy, and add suspense to the movie. This dreams and delusions make the audience as confused about Teddy’s reason for being on the island as he is, forcing the audience to doubt the motivations and staff of Ascecliffe as much as he does.