The Lighthouse Movie Analysis Essay

The purpose of a punishment is so after the justice they have been served that they could redeem themselves through their actions. Thomas Howard is being punished on the island that serves as his prison in The Lighthouse, by the antagonizing, patronizing nature of the one-eye seagull with the grueling tasks and dehumanizing words of Thomas Wake. And yet it was his ruined chances to save himself that led him down into insanity and it wasn't until the knowledgeable presence of the lighthouse did he realize. The Lighthouse isn't the story about two men falling into madness through isolation. It is a story about a man trapped in his own prison, damned from his own actions. 

There is no prison without other inmates. Standing in front of his wheelbarrow when he was meant  to put stuff away, squawking at his window at night when he was trying to sleep, and the seagull attacking him whenever it could. Finally it all accumulated into the seagull aggravating him when Howard went outside and found the dead seagull in the water pump. Howard then took the seagull by the neck and repeatedly bashed its body into the water pump, killing it. All of these grievances that the bird gave him were a part of his punishment for killing Ephraim Winslow. But Ephraim Winslow isn't the only person he killed. Wake said something along the lines of seagulls carrying the souls of dead sailors and that rings true how Howard finds a severed head in the lobster box sharing the same missing eye as a seagull he killed. The seagull’s death also resulted in the storm getting worse, resulting in Howard not being able to pick up. Thus keeping him his punishment. This is the first time in the story that Howard failed to redeem himself through his actions. Had he heeded the warning of Wake and not killed the seagull and taken his punishment for killing the real Ephraim Winslow, the storm wouldn’t have gotten worse and he would have gotten picked up when the five weeks were up.

Moving on to Thomas Wake. He lords his position and power over Howard constantly. His words and his attitudes are the main source of conflict against Howard. Telling him to drink because he was the rules and he was the one who pushed the maid duties off on Howard. He is the one who monitors Howard's behavior and has the power to dock his pay and has the key to everything important on the island. He is very quick and judgemental to point out where Howard's mistakes are and threaten him off of that. Like in the scene where he told Howard if he wanted him to pull out every nail and suck off all the rust till it shines like pearls and take apart the whole house and put it back together again.  He then said that Howard will do it and he will do it smiling because he said so. Without failing  to mention the dog insults that Wake will throw at Howard whenever the situation seems fit. Howard knowing that there is a power difference  between him and Wake and having to follow his word is a punishment. Him dealing with Wake for an untold amount of time as a punishment for what he's done. However, through the notes of Wake’s journal, Howard isn't doing his duties properly. He talks back and it rushes to the boiling point where Howard beats Wake into submission and switches the power roles. Especially when he drags Wake up outside with the lease and tell them to roll over before he starts burying him. This is the second point in the story where Howard has failed to redeem himself through his actions. That was his punishment to follow Wake’s direction way to the letter, yet in the same emotion filled way where he killed that seagull, he further himself from his own salvation. Even going further as to kill Wade he came out from his grave, adding another person to his list.

At this point of the story, Howard has neglected his punishments. He has killed the one-eyed seagull and Wake  as he journeys up the steps towards the light. When he embraced the light, his face was filled with ecstasy. For him the light represents the release of this prison, it represents the end of his punishment.