This article will thoroughly explain the ending of Shutter Island. Spoilers ahead.“Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?” The final line from Shutter Island still echoes through film circles, Reddit threads, and late-night debates. More than a decade later, Martin Scorsese’s psychological thriller remains one of the most haunting entries in his filmography, and it’s also one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s most devastating performances.
Released in 2010 and still dissected in 2025, Shutter Island is less about solving a mystery and more about exploring the mind. And the deeper you go, the less certain you become of what’s real. On the surface, it is an investigation. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels arrives at Ashecliffe Hospital to track down a missing patient. But as the story progresses, the island itself seems to shift. Dreams blur into memories, clues contradict each other, and the truth, if there is one, feels out of reach.
We will break down Shutter Island’s famously ambiguous ending, explore the psychological layers behind Teddy’s unraveling, and unpack why this twist-heavy thriller still holds up as one of Scorsese’s most rewatchable movies.
Updated Nov. 5, 2025: This explanation of Shutter Island‘s ending has been updated with additional content and useful features.
The Ending of ‘Shutter Island’
During the ending scene, Andrew and Dr. Sheehan sit down on some steps for a smoke. Andrew was just told that he had made up his entire identity as US Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels to escape from the reality that he had killed his wife. Andrew, in short, had realized who he really was. Importantly, Dr. John Cawley (Sir Ben Kingsley) told Andrew that he, at one point, realized who he really was, but then relapsed into forgetting himself, becoming Teddy, and beginning the investigation all over again.
Cawley warns that if this latest breakthrough fails, Andrew will be lobotomized. As Sheehan and Andrew sit, Dr. Cawley observes them from afar. Andrew and Sheehan talk for a while, and Sheehan realizes Andrew may have slipped back into his Teddy persona. Andrew is still talking as if he’s an investigator unraveling the mystery of Shutter Island. Recognizing this, Sheehan subtly signals to Cawley that the treatment hasn’t worked.
Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?
Cawley then goes to fetch the men to lobotomize Andrew. Before those men arrive, Andrew says one more thing that sheds some light on why the protagonist keeps recreating this loop of fantasy. And it’s that iconic question. He proposes it to Sheehan before getting up and walking away, taking one last drag from his cigarette. Then, Andrew is taken to be lobotomized.
Why Is the Ending of ‘Shutter Island’ So Effective?
Shutter Island‘s ending, like the ending of Inception, is effective because it resolves the main plot but does not provide complete closure. There is an important question that still needs to be answered in both movies, which leads back to their respective themes.
In Inception, the question is whether the reality Dom Cobb finds himself in at the end of the movie is actually real or another dream. This question is posed as he spins his totem — a top — and the camera lingers on it as it spins. In Inception, the top would keep spinning in a dream but fall after some time in real life. This circles back to the movie’s main question: what is real and what isn’t. Cobb’s wife commits suicide because she’s convinced her own reality is fake, believing it’s the only way to awaken.
Before diving into Shutter Island’s central question, it’s worth noting that the ending also works because of the cast’s exceptional performances, especially Leonardo DiCaprio. Ruffalo’s subtle head shake to Dr. Cawley says everything without a word, and Kingsley’s resigned expression captures the heartbreak of failure. DiCaprio, meanwhile, delivers a haunting portrayal of a man on the edge of reality. What Andrew is truly thinking in that final moment is unclear, but DiCaprio makes the ambiguity feel intentional.
While the high-profile actor stands out with an eclectic array of complex roles that certainly required a great deal of dedication and significant attention to detail, DiCaprio’s portrayal of Andrew Laeddis still stretched far beyond what he was used to and undoubtedly took him out of his comfort zone. The psychological aspect of this role, exploring the effects of trauma so deeply that the lines between reality and imagination are entirely blurred, posed a challenge, even for a phenomenal actor such as Leonardo DiCaprio.
However, especially when taking a closer look at how the actor carries on the confusion between reality and imagination at the end of Shutter Island, which highlights the uncertainty of whether Andrew remains aware of his situation, it becomes clear that DiCaprio always finishes his projects with the utmost dedication.
What Does the Ending of ‘Shutter Island’ Mean?
Shutter Island‘s ending can be interpreted in two ways. The first is the straightforward answer: that Andrew Laeddis has once again relapsed into his delusion, just as Dr. Cawley described earlier. This would justify the decision to lobotomize him, reinforcing the tragedy of a man who couldn’t face the truth.
The second interpretation is more layered. It hinges on the question Andrew asked at the end of the movie: if it is worse “to live as a monster, or to die as a good man.” A plausible theory might be that his only way out of his misery of living between reality and imagination, the only bearable way, is to take charge of his pain and make one last, arguably conscious decision: to die as a good man. It seems he has moments when he is aware of his existence and the pain that comes with it.
Shutter Island is essentially about Andrew falling into a delusion that he is a better man who didn’t kill his wife and that his time on earth has meaning because he’s looking for a way to avenge her rather than live with the guilt of having killed her. Andrew asking Sheehan that question reframes his actions. Instead of falling passively into the delusion, as a result of his subconscious, he decides to fully embrace an existence where he died as a good man. However, Shutter Island is definitely a movie that allows for a lot of interpretation.
What Is the Psychology Behind the Ending of ‘Shutter Island’?
Because the movie centers around a patient and his doctor, it’s only natural for us to try to look at the ending from a psychoanalytic point of view. After losing his three children because of his wife’s untreated mental illness, Andrew kills his wife, making his story even more tragic. This level of trauma could drive anyone to a psychiatric institution. However, people have very different reactions to traumatic events. Some would indulge in substance abuse, while others would engage in risky behavior, hoping that a rush of adrenaline would drown out the guilt and the pain.
In fact, all those behaviors have one thing in common. They are used to dissociate from an unbearable truth. It’s just that Teddy took it a bit too far. The ending offers a clear psychological diagnosis of the patient without explicitly stating it. His hard-nosed detective fantasy proved to be nothing but a symptom of his Dissociative Disorder resulting from his lingering and unattended trauma. Simply put, creating an imaginary identity that resembles in no way the true self that he has come to abhor and reject because of the guilt helps him cope with surviving the death of his family.
In a further sense, the ending of Shutter Island sparks a conversation about real-life events in which convicted murderers might suffer from a similar dissociation. The movie tackles the complexity of deep, simply unbearable pain and how it can significantly affect a person’s psyche. This dissociation, which can be seen in Andrew, is a means of self-protection, an escape from one’s own horrendous deeds or such immense emotional pain that feels life-threatening.
The Ending of ‘Shutter Island,’ Explained
What makes this ending uniquely special is its subtle and smart revelation of Andrew’s psychological plight. It shows that his only survival instinct is to succumb to an episodic sense of detachment and to step outside himself, leaving behind the memories that make him a monster. Simply put, this dissociative instinct arises when trauma still lingers in the mental and emotional background of the patient.
It’s also a state of failed forgetting. As Andrew could not forget his guilt, he fled to another stream of reality in which he was shielded from facing his tragic trauma. This extremely dark ending scene proposes that unless the protagonist faces his trauma head-on, this repetitive cycle of mental illness will be perpetuated. Hope returns in a brief moment of lucidity when Laeddis admits to Sheehan that he chooses to embrace his delusions.
However, the ending is not a strict binary. Perhaps Andrew is mostly delusional, but the comment about dying a good man is a moment of clarity in an otherwise confused haze. The strength of an ending like this is the fact that you can never be 100% sure. The ending has closure for the character, even if we, as the audience, don’t. We know Laeddis is going to be lobotomized, but the question is how much agency and choice he has in his own madness.
One could analyze this ending endlessly, but it remains deliberate and thoughtfully constructed. It has a clear thematic meaning and presents possible questions that linger with you after each viewing. That said, it’s a movie with an open ending you have to see if you haven’t yet.
Coincidentally, another movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio has a confusing ending. If you want to see Christopher Nolan give more insight about the ending of Inception, check out our video below:
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
