Dead Poet's Society
Alyssa Rutkoski
HC-119 2CA
Dead Poet’s Society
October 22,2019
In Dead Poet’s Society, the main characters are all males and include Neil Perry (which is the focus of the movie), Todd Anderson, John Keating, Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, and Richard Cameron. The boys have a new professor, Mr. Keating, who reinvents the way they see poetry and schooling overall. He takes the class outside to talk about poetry while playing soccer or walking in circles, but there is always a bigger picture in Mr. Keating’s lessons. The walking in circles shows how we all fall to conformity no matter where we start. He also tells each of the students to stand on top of his desk in order to see things in a new perspective. These new ideas are confusing to the Welton staff and the parents, as well. Mr. Keating even inspires the boys to restart the Dead Poet’s Society that Mr. Keating had founded in his years at Welton, in which they go to a cave near the school and read romantic poetry aloud and talk with one another. This action got Mr. Keating into trouble because the staff believed that he coerced the students into recreating the club because it had not resurfaced since Mr. Keating had graduated. It is Mr. Keating who inspired and pushed Neil to discover his love for the arts and that he wants to pursue acting, even though it is against his father’s wishes. Mr. Perry makes it very clear he should not follow the acting path because he wants Neil to have a better life than he did and make a name for himself. Yet Neil does it anyway and becomes one of the lead actors in the school’s play, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and discovers he loves acting more than he first thought. His parents forbid him to perform in the play and that he must quit in order to focus on his studies, but he does the opposite and performs in the play. Once Neil is off the stage, Mr. Perry forces him to come home immediately, where he informs him, he will no longer attend Welton Academy but will be registering and attending a military school in order to focus on getting into Harvard. Neil is so upset that in the night he decides to commit suicide in his father’s office. The battle between doing what Neil actually wants and obeying his father is finally over. Neil struggled with his autonomy and standing up against his father and defending what he is interested in. Yet, if defends his wanting to act, he defies fidelity because he is denying his father the loyalty he has been accustomed to because Neil has done everything Mr. Perry has said to his entire life. Although Mr. Perry does not see it, Neil is trying to follow standard of best interest and keep his goals and ambitions true to who he is and wants to do with his life. Although he does not see it, Mr. Perry forcing what he w
