Linda's lamp, representing lawful society, is made up of artificial materials ("brass fittings") together with "prisms," which are devices that break the potentially disillusioning sunlight into beautiful colors. Law is thus painted as an artifice for maintaining the illusion necessary for human unity. Its effect is to produce a "shrine of diamonds," i.e., a religion of wealth, property, status. This "sacred flame" is seen "dominating the sea," which in Nostromo symbolizes Man's innate liberty, capping the image of the massive, sacred illusion of law conquering and suppressing Man's innate desires.