电影《死亡诗社》中Neil Perry的人物分析

Neil’s character always remains static – meaning he does not undergo a change in his character at any time during the movie. Just because he died at the end does not mean that he changed.

His life was an act –to his father, to Keating, even to himself, b ut when he wasn’t acting, he thought he had nothing to contribute – he was just as lost as Todd was when Todd first came to Welton. Neil couldn’t deal with the idea that to give up acting was to quit playing the roles that he lived everyday, and so he kill ed himself because he “realized that he had not lived” up to that point. He just took on a different role to fit the circumstance. He never was upfront and honest about his passions to anyone. Neil wanted to be someone else – a person who could express his passions when the time was appropriate. Symbolism:

Neil seems to symbolize his kneeling down before everyone – such as his father (who takes away all control Neil tries to have – such as the editor of the newspaper) and the school. Perry seems to be sym bolic for “perish” and death, foreshadowing Neil’s suicide later in the movie. I think that’s why Todd and Neil got along so well. (On the first day of Keating’s class, Keating states that they are all going to die. Neil looks incredibly disturbed while considering this.) Neil could control Todd, and that was the only thing in his life he felt he had control over. Also, in a way, I think Neil saw himself in Todd, because Neil acted towards his father the way Todd acted towards everyone. By trying to help Todd, he thought maybe he could help himself. Neil claims, “the meek might inherit the earth, but they don’t make it into Harvard,” and he’s right –he’s meek, and he never makes it into Harvard.

He is the first to ask what the Dead Poets Society was. He is also the one to organize the first meeting. Neil also tells Todd that he must participate in the club.

Neil’s Poems

These lines and his Madman Story not only explain Neil’s philosophy but foreshadow what is about to come – his destruction.

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life, and not when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.” – from Walden

“Come, my friends, ‘T is not too la te to seek a newer world.

For my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and tho’ We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong i n will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” – from Ulysses

“It was a dark and rainy night. And this old lady who had a passion for jigsaw puzzles

sat by herself in her house at her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle. As she pieced

the puzzle together, she realized to her astonishment that the image that was formed was

her very own room, and the figure in the center of the puzzle, as she completed it, was

herself. And with trembling hands she placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at

the face of the demented madman at the window. The last thing that this old lady ever

heard was the sound of breaking glass.”

In the end, Neil realized that it was his own life and he was in the center of it. Since his dad had control over him and he was too afraid to stand up to him.