Personality Structure and Defense Mechanism on the Main Character of the Shutter

Island Film

Eni Purwaningsih | purwaningsiheni18@gmail.com

Abstract – This article discusses about the personality structure and defense mechanism of the main
character which runs out of balance throughout the story. The primary objectives of this article are to
explore the imbalance of the personality structure and defense mechanism that occurred in the main
character then made him encounter a personality disorder. This article uses qualitative research with
psychoanalysis approach using the technique of library research that focusing to the concept of
personality structure and defense mechanism by Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory. The result
show that the imbalance that occurs in personality structure of Teddy Daniels create a defense
mechanism on him as a diversion of discomfort he felt in the real world. His id in full power over him
and defense mechanisms help him turn the reality that his wife killed his children and he killed his wife
whom he loved so much. The purpose of this study is to explore Teddy Daniel’s personality disorder
that occur cause of his imbalance and conflict of personality structure which then create a defense
mechanism on him.

I. Introduction

The issues between personality structure and defense mechanisms are very closely
related. Factors that influence personality structure include historical, past, and present factors,
which are likened to innate factors and environmental factors in the formation of individual
personality structures (Dr. Albertine Minderop, 20). Id applies like an absolute ruler, must be
respected, spoiled, arbitrary, selfish and what they wants must be done immediately. Ego as
the prime minister who is likened of having a task to complete all the work that is connected
with reality and responsive to the wishes of the community. And superego is like a pastor who
is always full of good and bad values, and must remind the greedy id about the importance of
wise behavior.

Furthermore, the defense mechanism occurs because of an urge or feeling of switching

to find a substitute object. Freud used the term defense mechanism to refer to the subconscious
process of someone who maintains an anxiety, this mechanism protected them from external
threats arising from internal anxieties by distorting reality in various ways (Dr. Albertine
Minderop, 29). In personality theory, the defense mechanism is a characteristic that tends to be
strong in every person. The first defense mechanism identified by Freud is 1) repression which
is an attempt to avoid the feeling of anxiety, 2) the formation of reactions as a form of disguise
that directly contradicts its original form in one object, 3) transfer in this case explained that a
person can divert his impulses unacceptable to various objects 4) sublimation which is a form
of transfer of uncomfortable feelings with more beneficial actions, 5) fixation occurs starting
from the understanding that usually psychological growth runs continuously through various
stages of development, if the hope of taking the next step raises many anxieties then the fixation
defense works to remain at the present stage which is psychologically pleasing, 6) regression
is said by Freud that immediately after libido passes a stage of development when experiencing
stress and anxiety may return to the previous stage of development, 7) the short projection is
to place unwanted impulses on external objects, and 8) introjection is a defense mechanism
that people use to incorporate positive qualities from others into the ego themselves (Yustinus,
96-101).

The movie of Shutter Island (2010) by Martin Scorsese has a main character named
Andrew Laeddis. He has an imbalance of personality structure and a failure of defense
mechanism that made him get a mental disorder. Before he had a mental disorder Andrew is a
veteran of World War II United States who has assigned against the Nazi in Dachau, and after
that he became an US marshal. Andrew has a wife named Dolores Chanal and has three
children named Rachel Solando, Henry and Simon. First they lived in apartment and after that
they moved to the house near the lake after Dolores burned their apartment. Andrew made a
new story in his life by confessing that he was Teddy Edward Daniels. In his fantasy also there
were fictional characters that he formed, they are Chuck Aule (Teddy’s assistant as US
marshal), Andrew Laeddis (the murderer of his family), and Rachel Solando (the lost patient
in Ashecliffe). It should be remembered once again that Teddy Daniels is Andrew Laeddis.
Teddy was playing on his fantasy due to a traumatic incident that his wife Dolores is a
psychopath who killed her children and then drowned them on the lake behind their house.
After returning from his duties as US marshal, Teddy feels very depressed and could not accept
this, he suddenly became hysterical and killed his wife Dolores by shooting her. He continues
to fantasize, to eliminate the anxiety that occurs, so that he raises some new characters who
actually did not exist. Teddy accompanied by his main doctor, Dr. Sheehan, who was acting as
Teddy’s assistant with his fake name Chuck, was tasked to finding Rachel Solando, a very
dangerous patient on Ashecliffe that once again became a new character from Teddy’s fantasy.
In addition, Teddy's hidden mission to come to the island is to find Andrew Laeddis, the person
in his imagination is someone who killed his wife and his children by burning his apartment.
Dr. Cawley who is the owner of Ashecliffe is trying to resuscitate Teddy when it is nearing the
end of this story. Dr. Cawley said that Teddy made a story where he was not a murderer and
his fantasy story had been going on for 2 years, so he knew the details. Besides that Dr. Cawley
also said that Teddy was the most dangerous patient on Ashecliffe. After all of the explanation,
Teddy still doesn't believe, so that makes Dr. Cawley once again made it clear that he was
Andrew Laeddis by showing him a blackboard, written there, name of Teddy Daniels which is
the opposite of 13 words from Andrew Laeddis and also the name of Rachel Solando which is
the opposite too of the name Dolores Chanal. These names are anagrams or word play. After
all these explanations, Teddy finally recalled everything and admitted that he was Andrew
Laeddis who had killed his wife Dolores. He also explained that he was fantasizing because he
could not bear to know that Dolores, the wife he loved so much, killed his children. The new
characters and fantasy they had made, function as an escape to avoid feeling anxious and avoid
any sense of discomfort that exists.

The issue of personality structure and defense mechanism will later be useful to
understand more about how the personality structure and defense mechanism works in ourself
and others. Especially in this Shutter Island film which presents a main character named Teddy
Edward Daniels who has real name Andrew Laeddis with a condition of imbalance in his
personality structure thus creating a certain defense mechanism on him. In analyzing existing
data, this study uses qualitative methods using content analysis such as monologues, dialogues,
and stories which exist in the Shutter Island film as a unit of analysis. The objectives of this
study will be identified through this thesis statements:

1) How does the psychological condition of Teddy Daniels’s personality structure and
defense mechanism according to the Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory.

II. Finding and Discussion

In carrying out the task of avoiding pain and gaining pleasure, Freud said that the id has
two processes, those are reflex actions and premier processes. Reflex actions are automatic and
innate reactions, such as sneezing and blinking. And the premier process involves a slightly
more complicated psychological reaction. This reaction tries to stop the existing voltage by
forming an imagination about an object that can eliminate the stress. For example in this case
associated with Andrew Laeddis who was fantasizing by making a delusion that he was Teddy
Edward Daniels. And the death of his wife and children was caused by a fire in his apartment
which was burned by Andrew Laeddis, a new figure who was also created in Andrew's
imagination as Teddy. Andrew unconsciously made a premier process to avoid the pain he
experienced from the fact that he had killed his wife, because his wife had killed his children.
The hallucinatory experience in which these desired objects are present in the form of a
memory image is called as the fulfillment of desire (Yustinus, 62). Another example of a
premier process is nighttime dreams, which according to Freud's belief always reveal the effort
to fulfill a desire. Like Andrew who kept dreaming of his wife because he hoped his wife's
presence by his side.

Freud mentions that id is a "real psychological reality" because the id represents the
inner world from subjective experience and knows no objective reality. This is very in
accordance with the events experienced by Teddy, because the id who controls himself, makes
him show so clearly his inner world that is very chaotic.

Dr. Cawley : Andrew ... Andrew, can you hear me?

Andrew : Rachel! Rachel, Rachel ... Rachel.
Dr. Cawley : Rachel who?
Andrew : Rachel Laeddis ... My daughter.
Dr. Cawley : Why are you here?
Andrew : Because I killed my wife.
Dr. Cawley : And why did you do that?
Andrew : She murdered our children. And she told me to let her go.

From the dialogue above, he has forgotten the objective reality which make him now
look chaotic. His id ask him to made an imaginary to avoid the anxiety he felt. And near the
end of the story, Andrew realized about all of the incident that happened in the past. He tell the
truth about he made the imaginary stroy cause he can not to know that his wife killed his
children.

The ego through a secondary process is assigned to guard and save oneself from the
characteristics of id which have no morality, because the id cannot judge and distinguish
between something good and evil. So Freud said that the id is immoral, primitive and chaotic
(irregular). All this id energy is only used for one purposed, that is to seek pleasure in various
ways regardless of whether it is right or not. The main difference between id and ego is ego
acts as a personality structure that follows the principle of reality, aims to prevent the
occurrence of tension that comes from the id, until found an object that is suitable for satisfying
the desired thing. Ego as a principle of reality delays the principle of pleasure (id). In addition,
the principle of reality actually asks whether an experience is right or wrong, while the principle
of enjoyment is only interested in whether the experience is painful or pleasant (Yustinus, 64).
The ego in Andrew chose to satisfy the instincts in the id. Because the id is the most dominant
part of Andrew personality structure, so the main role of the ego as the mediator of instinctual
needs and the needs of the surrounding environment becomes malfunctioning and does not
work as it should.
 The last personality structure is superego. The superego is controlled by moralistic and
idealistic principles that conflict with the principle of enjoyment and the principle of the ego.
The Superego reflects the ideal, not the real, and strives for perfection, not pleasure (Yustinus,
66). Andrew has a weak superego, because the main concern of the superego is deciding
whether something is right or wrong in moral norms recognized by community representatives.
Andrew with the fictional story he made shows that he has a weak superego, because he cannot
distinguish between right and wrong and the actions he does are not in accordance with the
moralistic and idealistic principles in reality.

As a result the imbalances and conflicts that occur in Andrew’s personality structure
give rise to a defense mechanism in him. Teddy diverts the real world and makes a new story
to avoid an inconvenience that occurs to his family, makes the id in him move widely and
master him. His act become out of control and could be dangerous for others especially for
Ashecliffe patient and another people in Ashecliffe hospital. A person with a strong id and a
weak ego has a weak superego that is unable to keep up with the constant demands that continue
to come from the id.

According to Freud the conflict between the id, ego and superego results to the
emergence of anxiety. And the role of the defense mechanism in this case is to protect someone
from the anxiety by not accepting reality (Dr. Albertine Minderop, 31). Andrew is currently
experiencing anxiety caused by instability that occurs in the structure of his personality. And
to avoid the anxiety he experienced, he unconsciously used a defense mechanism to protect
him from anxiety over the bitter reality he experienced. What you need to know is one person
does not use all of these defenses, and not all defenses are used by all people. The use of defense
mechanisms is also part of normal, everyday functioning. Defenses aid us to manage stress,
disappointment, and strong negative emotions (Cramer). But failure of the defense mechanism
to fulfill its defense functions can result in mental disorders. And all existing defense
mechanisms are manifestations of the ego that have been unable to resist the impulses that exist
in the id.

According to Freud, the most powerful and broad defense mechanism is repression (Dr.
Albertine Minderop, 32). Repression in an effort to avoid anxiety results in the individual not
being aware of the impulses that cause the anxiety, and not remembering emotional and
traumatic experiences in the past.

Dr. Cawley : Who is Teddy Daniels?

 Andrew : He doesn't exist. Neither Rachel Solando. I made them up.
Dr.Cawley : Why? We need to hear you say it.
Andrew : After she tried to kill her for the first time, Dolores told me that ... she has an insect
... living inside her brain. She could feel it ... walking cross her skull ... pulling the
wires, just for fun. She told me that. She told me but I didn't listen I loved her so much.
Dr. Cawley : Why did you make them up?
Andrew : Because I can not take knowing that Dolores killed our children. I killed them,
because I didn't get her some help. I killed them...
Dr. Cawley : Here's my theory, Andrew. We broke through once before, nine months ago, and then
you regressed.
Andrew : I do not remember that.
Dr. Cawley : I know.You reset, Andrew. Like a tape playing over and over on an endless loop, I
hope that what we've done will be enough to stop it from happening again. I need to
know ... that you have accepted the reality.

Berdasarkan dialog diatas, dapat disimpulkan bahwa mekanisme pertahanan represi lah
yang digunakan oleh Andrew untuk menghindari kegelisahan yang ia alami. Andrew membuat
mekanisme pertahanan ini bekerja dengan melupakan kejadian traumatis yang terjadi di masa
lalunya. Dan salah satu cara dari dorongan yang direpresikan memperlihatkan dirinya adalah
menggunakan penyamaran yang langsung berlawanan dengan bentuk aslinya. Mekanisme ini
disebut dengan pembentukan reaksi. Andrew yang secara tidak sadar melakukan penyamaran
menjadi Teddy Daniels menunjukkan dengan jelas bahwa karakter dirinya sebagai Teddy
berlawanan dengan karakternya sebagai Andrew. Peran Teddy diimajinasikan sebagai soerang
US marshal yang mencari sebuah kebenaran tentang kasus obat-obatan terlarang yang
digunakan oleh rumah sakit Ashecliffe dan mencari tahu hilangnya salah satu pasien paling
berbahaya dari Ashecliffe. Sedangkan dalam kehidupan nyata, Andrew adalah seorang pasien
paling berbahaya yang ada di Ashecliffe dan seorang tersangka yang telah melakukan suatu
pembunuhan.

Mekanisme pertahanan terakhir yang digunakan oleh Andrew sebagai akibat dari
ketidakseimbangan yang terjadi pada struktur kepribadiannya adalah proyeksi. Mekanisme
pertahana proyeksi terjadi apabila dorongan insting internal menimbulkan terlalu banyak
kecemasan, ego mungkin mereduksikan kecemasan dengan menghubungkan dorongan yang
tidak bisa dikendalikan itu dengan objek luar, biasanya orang lain (Yustinus, 96). Kita semua
kerap kali menghadapi situasi atau hal-hal yang tidak diinginkan dan tidak dapat kita terima,
kemudian melimpahkannya dengan alasan lain. Sikap ini kita lakukan agar kita tampak lebih
baik. Proyeksi juga terjadi bila individu menutupi kekurangannya dan masalah yang dihadapi,
atau pun kesalahannya dilimpahkan kepada orang lain.

Chuck (Dr. Sheehan) : What about you? got a girl? Married?

Andrew (Teddy) : I was. She died.
 Chuck (Dr. Sheehan) : Jesus ...Boss, i didn't...
Andrew (Teddy) : Don't worry . There was a fire in our apartment building, while i
was out. Four People died. It was the smoke that got her not the fire.
That's important.
Chuck (Dr. Sheehan) : I'm sorry.

Dari dialog di atas Andrew dengan jelas menunjukkan bahwa dirinya menggunakan
mekanisme pertahanan ini, karena terlalu banyak kecemasan yang terjadi akibat dari istrinya
yang membunuh anak-anaknya dan ia yang membunuh istrinya. Andrew akhirnya
menghubungkan dorongan yang tidak bisa dikendalikannya tersebut dengan objek luar, yaitu
dengan cara melimpahkan semua kesalahannya pada orang lain agar dapat menutupi masalah
yang ia hadapi. Andrew dalam imajinasinya mengaku dirinya adalah Teddy, dan menceritakan
bahwa istri dan ketiga anaknya meninggal karena asap dari kebakaran apartemennya yang
dibakar oleh Andrew Laeddis. Andrew menggunakan mekanisme ini untuk melimpahkan
kecemasan-kecemasan yang terjadi pada ego, agar dirinya merasa lebih baik, dan tetap
dipandang baik oleh orang lain.

III. Conclusion

Struktur kepribadian memiliki peran penting dalam membentuk adanya mekanisme

pertahanan yang terdapat pada setiap individu. Ketidakseimbangan struktur kepribadian dan
adanya impuls-impuls yang berlebihan dari id dan superego menyebabkan timbulnya
kecemasan-kecemasan yang berlebihan pada Andrew, selaku tokoh utama dalam film “Shutter
Island” ini.

Struktur kepribadian yang terdiri dari id, ego, dan superego ini memiliki perannya
masing-masing dalam setiap individu, khususnya pada Andrew. Id sebagai raja atau ratu
menjadi penguasa yang bersifat sewenang-wenang dan mementingkan diri sendiri, ego sebagai
perdana menteri memiliki tugas untuk menyelesaikan segala pekerjaan yang berhubungan
dengan realitas, dan superego sebagai pendeta tertinggi selalu penuh pertimbangan dan
mengingatkan id tentang nilai-nilai baik dan buruk. Apabila ego terlalu banyak mendapatkan
impuls-impuls yang datang dari id dan superego, maka akan timbul kecemasan yang berlebihan
sehingga ego membutuhkan mekanisme pertahanan untuk membantu mengurangi kecemasan
yang dialami oleh ego. Beberapa mekanisme pertahanan yang digunakan oleh Andrew terdiri
dari represi, pembentukan reaksi, dan proyeksi. Represi berperan sebagai mekanisme
pertahanan yang memaksa perasaan yang tidak dikehendaki untuk masuk ke dalam
ketidaksadaran, pembentukan reaksi berperan sebagai bentuk penyamaran yang langsung
berlawanan dengan bentuk aslinya, dan proyeksi berperan untuk menutupi kekurangan dan
masalah yang dihadapi oleh seseorang, atau melimpahkan suatu kesalahan kepada orang lain.

Andrew dengan ketidakstabilan yang terjadi pada struktur kepribadiannya

menggunakan beberapa mekanisme pertahanan untuk mengurangi kecemasan-kecemasan yang
terjadi pada egonya. Akan tetapi kegagalan mekanisme pertahanan pada Andrew untuk
memenuhi fungsi pertahanannya berakibat pada kelainan mental. Andrew yang secara terus
menerus membuat cerita fiktif selama 2 tahun di rumah sakit kejiwaan Ashecliffe sangat sulit
untuk mengingat kenyataan yang terjadi dalam hidupnya. Walaupun ia sempat ingat dengan
kenyataan yang ia alami, pada akhirnya ia lupa akan hal tersebut dan kembali pada kehidupan
fiktif yang dibuatnya.