Shutter Island Psychology in Salem

In the movie Shutter Island, a man named Teddy Daniels arrives at Shutter Island, a mental hospital, to investigate the disappearance of a patient and also to find the murderer of his wife. As the movie progress it is revealed that he is actually the murderer of his own wife, and to cope with is, he has essentially gone crazy. He is able to convince himself that he didn't commit the murder, and convince others that he only did it because he is crazy. Being crazy, he is able to shift the blame of the murder off of himself and to keep his old reputation safe(before going crazy).

This can be related to the judges of the Salem Witch Trials, who have often been regarded as horrible people, even monsters, for allowing for the false accusations to continue after the lies began to be exposed. However, I don't believe the blame is on the judges, but rather on human nature. Given the choice between believing that they were saving the village from witches or killing innocent people, the judges naturally chose to believe that they were saving people-as would most other people given the choice. They chose to live as good men in their own minds for as long as they could. However, eventually they had no choice but to admit their mistakes due to all the proof given to them(when the girls run away). Shutter Island can also be applied to those in the trials that didn't admit to witchcraft. They had the choice to admit to being witches and live, or to not admit and die with their integrity. In this case, there were some who admitted to witchcraft to live, however important characters, such as John Proctor, chose to die as good people.

Besides choosing the option that allows them to remain good people, in all these cases, the choices the people make protect reputations. In Shutter Island Teddy is able to safeguard his reputation by blaming his murder on insanity. In The Crucible the judges protect their reputations for as long as they can by allowing there to be no question of witches in Salem. Finally, Proctor protects his reputation in the eyes of the most important person to him, Elizabeth. Even though others of the village will have seen his death as his refusal to admit that he was a wizard, Elizabeth sees it as Proctor finally clearing himself of sins in front of God. That is what Proctor believes is protecting his reputation. "Which would be worse - to live as a monster? Or to die as a good man?"(Shutter Island)