A psychoanalytic study of trauma in relation to guilt in Dennis Lehane's Shutter island

Abstract

The present paper undertakes the study of the main character in Dennis Lehane's novel Shutter Island (2003). In the light of the psychoanalytic literary theory, this work analyzes the mental instability of Andrew Laeddis alias Edward/Teddy Daniels after being the victim of a traumatic event. The aim of this research is to investigate the nature of the relationship between trauma and the feeling of guilt that the protagonist has experienced and their impact on his psyche. It also examines the effects of his psychological trauma on his self and the defense mechanisms that he has developed to confront the loss of his wife and children. The analysis points out to the way the main character responds to this mental disease and the role that his remorse plays in his treatment process. Through the use of psychoanalysis as a theory of literature, this dissertation also reveals the significant place that psychological trauma holds at an individual level and its incorporation into contemporary literary works. Moreover, it allows to explore the different varieties of trauma and guilt and their meaning in the psychological and the literary fields