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    Dead Poets Society Movie Summary

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    Benjie Good
    The document provides a detailed summary of the plot of the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. It describes the conflict between tradition and romanticism explored in the story as students at an elite all-boys boarding school are introduced to poetry and creative expression by their new English teacher. As the students find inspiration in their secret poetry club, tensions rise with the strict administration. This ultimately leads to a tragic outcome when one student takes his own life after facing pressure to abandon his passions.

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    Dead Poets Society Movie Summary

    Uploaded by

    Benjie Good
    267 views4 pages
    The document provides a detailed summary of the plot of the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. It describes the conflict between tradition and romanticism explored in the story as students at an elite all-boys boarding school are introduced to poetry and creative expression by their new English teacher. As the students find inspiration in their secret poetry club, tensions rise with the strict administration. This ultimately leads to a tragic outcome when one student takes his own life after facing pressure to abandon his passions.

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    The document provides a detailed summary of the plot of the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. It describes the conflict between tradition and romanticism explored in the story as students at an elite all-boys boarding school are introduced to poetry and creative expression by their new English teacher. As the students find inspiration in their secret poetry club, tensions rise with the strict administration. This ultimately leads to a tragic outcome when one student takes his own life after facing pressure to abandon his passions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    267 views4 pages

    Dead Poets Society Movie Summary

    Uploaded by

    Benjie Good
    The document provides a detailed summary of the plot of the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. It describes the conflict between tradition and romanticism explored in the story as students at an elite all-boys boarding school are introduced to poetry and creative expression by their new English teacher. As the students find inspiration in their secret poetry club, tensions rise with the strict administration. This ultimately leads to a tragic outcome when one student takes his own life after facing pressure to abandon his passions.

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    Dead Poets Society Movie

    Summary
    By Jessica See

    Dead Poets Society explores the conflict between realism and romanticism as
    these contrasting ideals are presented to the students at an all boy’s preparatory
    school. Welton Academy is founded on tradition and excellence and is bent on
    providing strict structured lessons prescribed by the realist, anti-youth
    administration. With the dawning of each new semester, hundreds of parents
    abandon their sons, leaving them in the tried hands of Welton staff in hopes that
    they will raise doctors and lawyers. When a replacement English teacher
    arrives, who happens to be a Welton alumnus, he brings with him a passion for
    teaching romanticism, thus opening a never-before-seen world to his students.

    The story is predominantly viewed through the eyes of Todd Anderson (Ethan
    Hawke), a newcomer to Welton, and his roommate Neil Perry (Robert Sean
    Leonard). Todd is painfully shy and terrified that what he might say is
    insignificant and meaningless. This is particularly disturbing to him since he is
    repeatedly told that he has “big shoes to fill” being the younger brother of a
    former valedictorian. Neil, on the other hand, is bright and full of ambition,
    which is unfortunately squelched by his overbearing, controlling father. Mr.
    Perry dictates every detail of his son’s life including extra curricular activities,
    future plans, and specifically what others think of him.

    The new English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) begins his teachings
    with a fervent lecture on their imminent deaths, explaining to the students that
    their lives are fleeting so they should seize the day to make their lives count, to
    leave a legacy of “carpe diem.” He continues his teaching by instructing the
    class to rip out the pages of their books which describe a scientific way to
    determine the greatness of poetry. He teaches them the works of the romantic
    poets such as Thoreau and Lord Byron and employs outdoor exercises to warn
    them of the dangers of conformity and the power of sports as a way which
    human beings push each other to excel.
    Amidst these eccentric activities, the students, intrigued with their new teacher,
    learn that he was a member of the Dead Poets Society. When asked, Keating
    describes glorious moments of creating gods, but warns them to forget about the
    idea. Nevertheless, they repeatedly sneak off campus to convene their own
    version of the Dead Poets Society. Todd is allowed to attend as an exception:
    since he does not want to read aloud, he keeps minutes of the meetings.
    Throughout these meetings, each character is able to develop his own romantic
    or realist nature.

    The shocking clash between realism and romanticism begins to unfold when
    Charlie Dalton (Gale Hansen) prints an obnoxious article in the school news in
    the name of the Dead Poets. The administration is appalled and begins an
    investigation. Meanwhile, Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) fall madly in love
    with a girl who is practically engaged to the son of his parent’s friends. He
    pursues her relentlessly, driven by romantic ideals, in the face of the threats on
    his life by her boyfriend. Neil realizes that his real passion in life is acting and
    proceeds to land the role of Puck in a Midsummer Night’s Dream at the local
    theater. He begins to weave a tangled web of deception by failing to inform his
    father, then lying to Mr. Keating when his father finds out and demands he quit
    the play. Feeling trapped, after his final performance and a standing ovation, he
    takes his own life.

    This horrible outrage echoes through the hallowed halls of Welton, applying
    even greater pressure to the Dead Poets. When Mr. and Mrs. Perry demand a
    thorough investigation, Welton administration links the Dead Poets Society,
    which they determined as the cause for the upheaval, to Mr. Keating. Each
    member is called before the administration and their parents to sign a confession
    statement indicating that Mr. Keating filled their minds with these lofty ideals
    ultimately leading to Neil’s suicide. Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman),
    ultimately a realist concerned most with doing what is already determined to be
    right, signs the statement and encourages the rest of them to do the same.
    Knowing full well that Keating was not responsible, Cameron lets him take the
    rap to free himself.

    Angered by this betrayal, Dalton punches Cameron in an impulsive fit


    displaying his final romantic act, only to be expelled. The last to sign, though
    unwillingly, is Todd, thus removing John Keating from his treasured position. In
    one final scene, displaying the beauty of a balance between the two ideals, Todd
    is able to cry out to Mr. Keating, who stopped by the class to collect his
    belongings, “O Captain, my Captain!” Todd, who previously had no identity,
    contributed his verse to mankind, climbing to the top of his desk to salute his
    fallen teacher, who changed his life.

    RECOMMENDED

     
    DEAD POETS SOCIETY QUICK START

     Movie Summary

     DPS Philosophy
    CHARACTERS

     John Keating As A Romantic


     Todd Anderson
     Neil Perry
     Charles Dalton aka Nwanda
     Knox Overstreet
     Richard Cameron and Groupthink

     Meeks & Pitts


    DPS POETRY

     She Walks In Beauty - Lord Byron


     The Ballad of William Bloat - Raymond Calvert
     The Prophet - Abraham Cowley
     To the Virgins, Make Much of Time - Robert Herrick
     The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost
     The Congo - Vachel Lindsay
     A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
     Sonnet XVIII - William Shakespeare
     Excerpt from Ulysses - Alfred Lord Tennyson
     Excerpt from Walden - Henry David Thoreau
     O Captain My Captain - Walt Whitman
     O Me! O Life! - Walt Whitman
     Song of Myself XVI - Walt Whitman

     Song of Myself Section 52 - Walt Whitman

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