Leo Mehring-Keller

Dead Poets Society (1989)

1) Who is the protagonist (or who are the protagonists)? What do we learn about the

protagonist’s character in the opening fifteen minutes of the film?

The main protagonists of this film are high schoolers Neil Perry and Todd Anderson, a

senior and junior, respectively, who are attending a boarding school called Welton, which we

already learn a good deal about at the beginning of the film. The school has four values,

tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence, and we see a very strict and formal welcoming

ceremony before the first day of the new school year. We learn that Neil is a strong student but

also that his father controls much of his life. As they leave the ceremony, Neil’s father tells the

Headmaster, Mr. Nolan, that Neil will not disappoint; and, later, he comes into Neil’s room to tell

him that he has decided that Neil will not work on the school annual this year (although Neil

very much wants to). We then also see his father reprimand him for disagreeing with him, and we

learn that he has (probably already for a while) decided that Neil will go to medical school.

Todd is a new student, but he also has expectations placed on him by Headmaster Nolan

because his older brother was a valedictorian, and we see that his parents clearly have a good

relationship with Nolan. However, while we see that Neil is quite outgoing, introducing himself

to Todd, bringing his friends to their room, and inviting Todd to their study group, Todd is shy

and has barely any dialogue. On the first day of classes, the boys meet their new English teacher,

Mr. Keating, who is himself a Welton alumnus, and who appears at first very strange to the class.

While the rest of their classes were taught rigorously but straightforward and orthodox, Mr.

Keating has them leave the classroom entirely to go downstairs and look at the photos of former
Welton students, where he tells the boys to seize the day. While some students are suspicious or

skeptical of Mr. Keating’s style, we see that both Neil and Todd, along with some others, are

visibly intrigued in the lesson.

2) Who are the antagonists? What motivates them? What does the film show us about their

character? Is there anyone you would call a “villain” of the movie?

There are two characters who could be considered primary antagonists: Mr. Nolan and

Neil’s father. Neil’s father has relatively clear motivations. We learn from Neil later in the film

that they are not a very wealthy family (unlike many of the other Welton boys), and so his father

wants Neil to become a doctor so that they will have greater financial stability. Since Welton is

very prestigious, attending the school is the first step in the trajectory he has charted for Neil, and

he also alludes to having made sacrifices himself just to get Neil into the school (it is unclear

what exactly). In any case, Neil’s father is completely consumed by this one goal for Neil, and

believes that Neil owes it to him as a parent to do completely as he wishes so that everything will

go according to his plan; this is why he takes Neil out of the annual and admonishes him for

participating in the play. Anything that does not contribute directly to his vision for Neil is not

allowed. When he finally for once asks Neil what he wants, the evening before he commits

suicide, Neil doesn’t even know how to tell him or doesn’t want to.

Mr. Nolan’s motivations are slightly more ambiguous although he is also less important

as an antagonist. He clearly seems to genuinely believe in the pillars of the school, and that at

least at their age, students should not yet be taught how to think for themselves. At various points

he manipulates, threatens, or pressures students into either lying to protect the school’s image or

getting their friends in trouble. After Neil’s death, he uses Mr. Keating as a scapegoat to blame
for the death who he can then fire and protect the school’s prestige (which we see at the

beginning he cares about deeply). Despite all of this though, it is difficult to characterize Mr.

Nolan as a villain because he ultimately does seem to care about the education of the boys, even

if it is in some slightly twisted sense and he is somewhat power-hungry. This is further amplified

by Neil’s father, because he can truly be considered a villain. We could perhaps find some

sympathy for him for the entire movie (stemming from some idea of him just coming from a

rough background and thus wanting better for his child even if his idea of better is misguided) if

he showed any self-reflection or realization after Neil’s death. However, as I will discuss later, he

clearly still cannot seem to step into Neil’s shoes and understand that he adored Mr. Keating.

3) What key decisions does the protagonist make?

For Neil, perhaps the most important decision he makes in terms of driving the plot

forward is to audition for the play behind his father’s back, knowing that he would be extremely

angry with him if he found out, which he does. Some other important decisions include taking

Mr. Keating seriously and thus finding out about the Dead Poets Society, encouraging Todd to

come to their meetings even if he doesn’t want to read, taking Mr. Keating’s advice and

confronting his father about still wanting to act in the play, and finally of course his tragic

suicide.

Todd is perhaps slightly less influential for the plot as a protagonist, but his decisions

illustrate key thematic content that is equally important to Neil. Especially after Neil’s death,

Todd continuously sticks up for him and Mr. Keating when the rest of the friend group begins to

express doubt. Most notably, and famously, as Mr. Keating is leaving the classroom, Todd, to

Nolan’s frustration, tells him that they were forced to sign the letter alleging his corrupting
influence, and then stands on his desk (an exercise Mr. Keating had had the boys do earlier to see

new perspectives) and addresses Mr. Keating as “O Captain! My Captain!” in reference to the

Walt Whitman poem which Mr. Keating had said they could address him as on the first day of

class. Most of the rest of the class then follows suit (which recalls an earlier scene where Todd

tells Neil that people don’t listen when he says things) and Todd’s general decision to become

more of a leader and stand up for what he believes.

4) How does the protagonist change (if they do)? What do they learn? How does the film

show us about their character development?

As previous points should likely have already demonstrated, Todd displays relatively

clear character development. While he is at first kind and respectful he is shy and does not even

want to read aloud. As the final scene shows us though, he becomes confident in himself and acts

with conviction. Much of this change we witness directly as the effect of Mr. Keating’s teaching.

In one pivotal scene, with the context that each student was supposed to compose a poem and

read it to the class, but despite working hard on it Todd threw away each draft he wrote, Mr.

Keating has Todd come to the front of the class. There, he guides Todd to compose a poem on

the spot, which he turns out to do very well (at certain points) and impresses the class.

Neil’s character development is similarly influenced by Mr. Keating. He first comes upon

the idea to audition for the play because is consciously trying to seize the day as Mr. Keating has

taught them. Despite believing that he loves acting, he has never had the chance to, but decides

now that he will. We see this again when he takes Mr. Keating’s advice and decides to remain in

the play. However, another possible way to view Neil’s development is that, through the

influence of his father, he changes for the worse, in contrast to Todd, and this is what leads to his
suicide. By worse, I mean that the positive lessons and perspective Neil learns about life from

Mr. Keating becomes overshadowed by their conflict with his father’s perspective, and this leads

to Neil’s death because he does not want to live in a world where he cannot live out the new zest

for life he has been introduced to.

5) Does the antagonist change? What happens to the antagonist?

Neil’s father essentially does not seem to change, which is surprising because it almost

seems as though the movie is set up so that he will change. The viewer could reasonably expect

that after Neil’s suicide, this will finally be the turning point (although it would be too late) that

makes his father have some self-awareness, realize that Neil’s death was his fault, and not

continue to disrespect him. However, he does just that, by telling Mr. Nolan that he wants the

death to be investigated (given that he earlier tells Mr. Keating to stay away from Neil, it is

implied that he blames him). Which, if he knew anything about Neil, was not why he shot

himself. This anticipation is also built by the fact that Neil’s father was not supposed to be at the

play because he had to be in a different city for work, but we see him show up towards the end

and witness that Neil truly has a gift for acting. Thus, it is easy to be led into thinking that he has

decided that Neil, as an individual, is more important to him than either of their career success,

but this optimism is quickly destroyed when he takes Neil and angrily drives home.

6) Are there any lines of dialogue that seem especially revealing or significant (e.g.,

“There’s no place like home,” “Get busy living, or get busy dying”)? Are there any themes

that are reiterated throughout the film (e.g., family, trust)?

Many lines that illustrate the main themes of individualism, independent thought,

humanism, and the value of art. A few examples, “no matter what anybody tells you, words and
ideas can change the world . . . We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and

write poetry because we are members of the human race . . . poetry, beauty, romance, love: these

are what we stay alive for.”

7) Did anything stand out to you about how pivotal scenes were shot? Are there filmmaking

choices (editing, music, cinematography, etc.) that seem especially relevant for

understanding the film’s mood or the world the characters find themselves in?

Neil’s suicide has always struck me as obviously an important scene but nevertheless

quite strange in terms of its form. We get very eerie music combined with some jump cuts that

require the audience to piece together some information about what is actually going on, which is

not really used anywhere else in the film. Overall, it is starkly in contrast in mood to anything

that came before it, and it is important to understand this because it shifts the overall mood and

idea of the film to be much darker.

8) Did the film remind you of any of the ethics texts we’ve read or any of the ideas from the

lectures?

I think Neil’s father is an interesting example of the banality of evil. At first we probably

would not even call him evil as much as strict or overbearing, but by the end of the film,

although he has not acted any differently, the effects of his actions mean that we come to see him

as evil. From his perspective, as I previously discussed, he clearly even after Neil’s death feels

no responsibility because he was doing what he believes he is supposed to be doing. I think this

is also influenced by the fact that his motivation for pushing Neil comes from his socioeconomic

background and desire for financial security above all else, but this practical attitude leads to
very evil results because he (ironically given the message of the film) loses his capacity for

critical thinking.

9) Taking into consideration (1–8), what do you think this film says about good and evil?

Using John Truby’s idea of “moral argument,” what is the moral argument of this film?

I think there are two related but distinct moral arguments of the film that function on

different levels of interpretation. First, the moral argument that follows directly from elements of

the plot is that we are all capable of individual thought and should exercise it as much as we can

because that is what makes life valuable (this is a moral argument that Mr. Keating makes within

the film to the students but is also an argument to the audience). Then, secondly, there is the

moral argument that is only accessible to the audience. This one is more ambiguous but perhaps

more compelling; it is that there is tangible value in education and ideas in that they can in fact

lead people to make conscious changes to their lives, if we suspend our desire to turn anything

potentially meaningful into meaningless irony because we are afraid of admitting that we are still

searching for meaning. Although his circumstance tragically results in his death, Neil still fully

lives out his life according to what he has come to believe in as far as he can, and Todd and the

other boys who stand up decide that practical consequences like being expelled or looking like a

fool are not what matters to them in life compared to loftier goals like fulfillment and purpose. In

other words, it is the argument that the first moral argument should and deserves to be taken

seriously.