Dead poets society

„ {} you can’t beat death but


you can beat death in life, sometimes.

and the more often you learn to do it,

the more light there will be.

your life is your life.

know it while you have it..{}”

- Charles Bukovski, The laughing heart

Ever since we were born, we've been told what's good and bad, what we have to do and
what not to do. Starting with our parents, our teachers and our environment that clamps
us into a society's grid and forces us to follow a precise pattern.

The Movie “Dead poets society”, like the poem “The laughing heart”, shows the
importance of freedom and courage to take action in your life, to work for your dreams
and to not let anybody else decide on your life path. There is a saying that freedom is not
everything, but without freedom everything is nothing. To be free is signi cant when it
comes to realizing who you want to be and what you want your meaning in life to be.

The movie shows how the new charismatic English teacher Mr. John Keating changes the
path of his students life. Welton, a very prestige and conservative all-boys preparatory
school, has its highest values on tradition, performance and discipline. The school, like
the parents of the students, require discipline and big achievement. The young boys
cannot share their feelings and their own desires with their parents because they do not
want to hear them. They are expected to do exactly what they are told without saying
their own opinion. This is shown in the beginning of the movie when the student, Neil
Perry tells his father that he wants to be part of the Schools Newspaper, but his father,
without caring a little about his son desires, does not allow him that. This scene shows

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 that Neil and his friends have somehow accepted this situation, in which they have to do
what their parents dictate, because they have not meet yet somebody to tell them
di erent. Fearing to do something wrong they have become unfree.

Mr. Keating tries to stop this vicious circle. He teaches in a relaxed and funny way,
learning his students to value literature. The problems the young students face, are
problems that always existed and that's why they are also described in literature.

Mr. Keating also puts big accent on the importance of being courageous. Courageous to
have a di erent opinion, to dare to do something di erent and to be brave enough to
make decisions about your own life. With his behavior he opens a new perspective to the
students and makes them to understand and like poetry and most important to seize the
day - carpe diem.

There is a beautiful moment in the movie, where Mr. Keating tells the students that

“Medicine, law, business, engineering, there are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain
life. But poetry, beauty , romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

This two sentences have a lot of meaning and impact, because they teach to not forget
what makes life beautiful and to ght for your goals and desires.

Some of the students nd out that Mr. Keating, who is himself a former student of the
Welton school, was a member of the dead poets society, a club that not longer exists,
and they decide to recreate it. At night the boys sneak out of the boarding school into a
hideaway in the woods. The club means freedom for the young boys. It's a place where
they can be themselves, think freely and open up about their real passions.

The recreation of the dead poets society is the big turning point in the movie. The
students start having courage to go after their desires. Unfortunately, the boys don't have
the courage to tell their parents what they're doing and only do the things they like in
secret. As a result, the lm ends in a very sad way. When Neil's father nds out that Neil
has secretly taken part in a play as an actor, he threatens to take him out of school and
put him on an even stricter one. Neil fails to tell his father about his feelings but he also
can’t accept the thought of continuing to live the life his father dictates him. So he
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decides to end his life. The blame for Neil's death is laid on Mr. Keating, who then has to
leave school.