What Does The Ending Of Shutter Island Really Mean?

The Literal View

In 1954, US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) travel to Shutter Island, to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, in order to investigate the disappearance of one of the patients: Rachel Solando. At the island, they are met by Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley), the lead psychiatrist who endeavours to treat his patients more humanely than some of his contemporaries. While at Ashecliffe, Teddy begins having flashbacks to his WWII days, liberating Dachau concentration camp, and to life with his now-deceased wife (Michelle Williams). Solando is suddenly, mysteriously found, but as a raging storm strands them on the island, Teddy and Chuck widen their investigation, in an attempt to get to the bottom of the strange goings-on at Ashecliffe. In reality, Teddy has an ulterior motive: to find Andrew Laeddis, the man responsible for his wife's death who has also disappeared from the Ashecliffe facility. In his search for Laeddis, Teddy finds George Noyce (Jackie Earle Hayley), a patient who has apparently been experimented on by Ashecliffe staff, and a woman who claims to be the real Rachel Solando. In a final attempt to uncover the truth, Teddy heads to Shutter Island's lighthouse, where he finds Dr. Cawley and Chuck, really Ashecliffe's Dr. Sheehan, waiting for him. They explain that Teddy is actually Andrew Laeddis, and that he was the one who killed his wife after she drowned their children in a lake. After some cajoling, 'Teddy' accepts that he is the real Andrew Laeddis. Back in his Ashecliffe patient's uniform, Andrew sits down for a cigarette with Dr. Sheehan (Chuck's real identity), but it appears he's slipped back into the mindset of Teddy Daniels once again. Andrew is taken by the guards and Dr. Cawley to the lighthouse, where it's assumed he is to be lobotomised. But is that what really happens? There's four distinct ending theories to explore, as well as the wider meaning and intent of Scorsese's film.