Shutter Island

[Just C]

Originally Posted by Flo Real

Don't know who it was who was getting this confused at the start of the tread but its as simple as this:

he killed his wife
Due to te stress of what she did an what he did he became unstable
He creates a fake person who killed his wife to deal with it
He lives a fake life of investigating the island every day as a means to deal with reality
The bit at the end of the film is added for the film in the original book he is still mental

There was no conspiracy etc

I can't see this strictly from the standpoint that if he was already a patient of 2 years the Dr's wouldn't go through this charade on such a consistent basis, there are 60 plus other patients who Ben Kingsley and Ruffalo's character have to help to tend to on a daily basis when they can just deal with him in a much less time consuming manner. Just the thought alone is extremely far fetched. even if staff took turns to hold his hand through this daily routine is a reach, at least for me.

He was either a marshal going to the island to investigate/expose and gradually turned into a patient to protect the asylum and it's staff

Or he was a patient who they experimented on as a 1 time deal to either

A) cure him to by making him accept his role in his wifes death

B) Make him accept a false reality as a brainwashing experiment.

Or C) Both A and B to make him accept he killed his wife only in a alternate setting as part of a psychological experiment. 2 birds with 1 stone.