IndexThe symbolism of fire and water in "Shutter Island"ConclusionWorks Cited'What interests me is how the story continues to change, and the reality of what is happening it keeps changing, and how, until the final scene, it all depends on how the truth is perceived.' – Martin Scorsese, director of Shutter Island. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Scorsese's film achieves this shift in perception by using strong symbolism to provide clues. Throughout the film, two common symbols are fire and water. These symbols give meaning and tie all the ideas together, and the purpose of the symbols becomes clear during the final scenes. The main character, Teddy Daniels (Andrew Laeddis), also identifies the island's lighthouse as a key location in the island's madness. There are various shots and angles of the lighthouse, which show a difference in reality and perception. The film predominantly revolves around the perception of reality and truths, along with the underlying and related ideas of sanity and madness. The strong use of these symbols creates a deeper insight into the film's ideas. Symbolism of fire and water in "Shutter Island" The fire in the film shows the intuition of Teddy's mind, the constant use of fire in his dreams and hallucinations revolve around his madness. The fire is also associated with Dolores in the film. He says she died in an apartment fire and that "Laeddis lit the match that killed my wife." When in reality he figuratively lit the match. He did this while ignoring the fact that his wife, Dolores, had a mental illness. He said he heard voices, that someone was in his head. This is how he lit the "match" that lit the "fire" with which Dolores killed their children. Teddy is also tormented by memories of his time in Dachau. Dachau is an old German concentration camp in southern Bavaria between 1933 and 1945. When Teddy was in World War II he was one of the soldiers who took over the camp, what he saw left him with disturbing memories. Teddy had a hallucination about Dachau while at Dr. Naerhing's house, caused by the fire and the music playing on the record player. During this hallucination he sees ash falling on Dachau and frozen bodies piled on top of each other. This ash could show the beginning of his madness, the place where his problems began. Whenever Teddy is associated with fire a hallucination always follows, this is Teddy's "trigger" for a hallucination. Water is necessary for life, as is Teddy's desire for the truth. Water in the film is used in opposition to fire, it is used to represent Teddy's sanity, truth, reality. Water in this case often prevents Teddy from finding the truth. The truth about what's going on, what Teddy is really looking for. He essentially wants to know what happened to himself. In the opening scenes of the film Teddy and Chuck are on a ferry to the island, Chuck asks him if he's okay but he replies "Yeah, okay, I just ah, I just can't, I can't stand the water." In this scene we also see shots of Teddy behind a metal fence, this shot depicts the fact that he is incarcerated. On a symbolic level, Teddy getting sick from the water actually makes him sick. The reality of what happened to his family. Chuck also introduces himself, telling Teddy that he's from Seattle, the most "watery" of American cities. Chuck is Dr. Sheehan, Teddy's doctor, so it makes sense that he's from an aquatic place. Another example of using water is when Teddy and Chuck leave Dr.