Dead Poets Society Neil Perry Essay

Dead Poets Society, by Peter Weir, deals with a variety of thought-provoking themes and situations. One such topic DPS addresses is suicide--more specifically, the suicide of Neil Perry, a main character of the story. The Welton boy commits suicide for a number of reasons. These include external pressures from his family, his penchant for drama, and pressures from society. All of these factors finally resulted in Neil’s death.

The most obvious reason that Neil Perry took his own life is due to familial pressures. A clear example of this is the behaviour of Neil’s father, a man who seems to care more about his son’s social status than his son. Neil’s relationship with his father is shown quite early in the film; from when his voice cracks as he says “father”; to how Mr Perry expects his son to “listen to [him]”. Neil’s discomfort and fear of his father is shown early on, and the use of high angle shots for Neil and low angle shots for Neil’s father in one of the last scenes helps demonstrate this point.. This is one of the reasons …show more content…
Welton’s culture is, first and foremost, dictated by its four pillars: tradition, honour, excellence and discipline. These four pillars, while on their own good principles, are generally taken too far--to the point where Neil himself feels “trapped”. Welton and the society surrounding him are telling him that if he will not follow their traditional values then he is worthless, and are conditioning him to believe that there is no other way out than death. Welton is a suffocating place where stepping out of line is not permitted, as shown by Charlie getting corporal punishment. The Welton culture is too stifling for Neil to express his feelings and identity, and he feels worthless and unable to live up to expectations as a result of this. Thus, this leads to Neal taking his own life as he feels he cannot grow or express himself in the society he lives