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1. Dead Poets Society
2. Dead Poets Society Summary
3. Dead Poets Society Trailer

“Carpe Diem”(Kleinbaum, 25) is an important and symbolic quote in Dead Poets Society. Carpe Diem, literally in Latin meaning to seize the day, is commonly interpreted to mean look for opportunities in life and make the most of them. In Dead Poets Society, the main characters Todd, Neil, and Charlie are influenced by “Carpe Diem” and pursue its meaning of making the best of situations and creating opportunities.
Charlie in Dead Poets Society gives us a great example if Carpe Diem in his character. Charlie is not one to shy from speaking in front of his peers and performs in the Dead Poet Society Meetings. Aside from this, he sees an opportunity to seize the moment when he bring beautiful women to the society meetings to positively diversify it and to show himself as an opportunist who grasped at the opportunity to “woo” women with poetry. His action of bringing girls to the society and then serenading Gloria unlike he was known to by his peers and brings positive meaning to Carpe Diem
Neil’s character in Dead Poets Society represents Carpe Diem when he joins the play. He finds his passion in theater and despite opposition to his practice of it he pursues his lust for acting. He took the trouble to oppose his fathers judgment for something he loved. He seized the opportunity to pursue his wish when it was in question by his own father. In this way Neil represents the theme of Carpe Diem in Dead Poets Society.
Todd’s brave action of his public proclamation of appreciation for Mr. Keating when Keating was at the end of his days at Welton. Mr. Keating was fired from Welton Academy, as accused, of provoking Neil’s choice of committing suicide. Todd, who had taken great influence from Mr. Keating’s poetic teaching, was sad to see him fired for and accusation Todd did not agree with. Todd stood in front of his classmates with Keating just exiting the door, saluted him with an “Oh captain my captain.”(Kleinbaum, 165) and because of his braveness, his classmates soon followed. Him seizing the opportunity to salute his influential teacher in his last seconds at Welton are a great example of the theme of Carpe Diem’s importance in Dead Poets Society.
Charlie’s Spontaneous action to the society, Neil’s commitment to pursue his love for theater and Todd’s bravery in his final salute to Mr. Keating are examples of how the quote and phrase “Carpe Diem” greatly affected Dead Poets Society as a theme. Charlie seized the opportunity to introduce women to the society. Neil seized the opportunities to pursue his love of acting. Even Todd, who was shy for most of the book, to the opportunity to publicly, symbolically say goodby to Mr. Keating. In these ways is Carpe Diem an important theme in Dead Poets Society.

Supporting Quotes:
-“Carpe Diem”(Kleinbaum, 25)
-“Oh captain my captain.”(Kleinbaum, 165)
-“…Neil said patiently, ‘What’s going on?’
‘Nothing, unless you object to having girls here.’ Charlie said.”(Kleinbaum, 91)

Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society: Directed by Peter Weir. With Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles. Maverick teacher John Keating uses poetry to embolden his boarding school students to new heights of self-expression. Instant downloads of all 1477 LitChart PDFs (including Dead Poets Society). LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.

Dead Poets Society Summary

Dead Poets Society Trailer