Summary
Keating and McAllister are having a happy chat in Keating’s office when Mr. Nolan requests a word with Keating. Nolan explains that Keating’s classroom was actually Mr. Nolan’s back when he taught English himself. He warns that Keating’s unorthodox teaching methods may cause long-term trouble for the boys. He asks about the walking in the courtyard. Keating explains that this exercise warned students against the dangers of conformity, while Nolan insists that their curriculum is based on conformity. Keating argues that the boys should be free thinkers, but Nolan vehemently rebukes this. He tells him to prepare them for college and nothing more.
Later, the boys fill a common room, listening to Charlie describe what happened in Mr. Nolan’s office. Keating comes in and scolds Charlie for his earlier stunt, warning that there is a time for daring, but also a time for caution, saying his doesn’t want him expelled from school, if only because it means he wouldn’t be able to take Keating’s classes. He tells Charlie and the rest to keep their heads about them, and leaves joking that the phone call from God would’ve been daring if it’d been collect. Charlie decides not to resume his story about Mr. Nolan.
Neil rides his bike to the theater, where rehearsals for A Midsummer Night’s Dream are in full swing. The scene then switches to the boys running to dinner as Neil returns to the dorm. In his bedroom he encounters his father, who immediately scolds him for deceiving him by taking up acting. He asks if Keating put Neil up to this, which Neil denies. Neil’s father explains that a co-worker asked about Neil being in a play with her niece, and he lied by saying Neil wasn’t in one. He demands that Neil drop out of the show, even though it’s taking place the following night. Before leaving, he reminds Neil of the great sacrifices he’s made and says not to let him down.
Keating is in his office writing when Neil knocks and enters. Keating makes him tea and tells him that he doesn’t want to be anywhere but Welton because he loves teaching. Neil doesn’t share the sentiment and explains what happened with his father. He laments that he doesn’t have the luxury of choosing an uncertain career path like acting because his family’s not rich, but that he also can’t stand having his whole life planned out for him. Keating advises him to tell his father what acting means to him, but Neil knows how the whole conversation will go, and he feels trapped. Keating insists Neil talk to his father anyway.
The next scene shows Knox sneaking out of a snow-covered Welton and riding off on his bike. He arrives in a bustling high school hallway with flowers in hand, finds Chris, and gives them to her, apologizing for his actions at the party. She pulls him aside and warns him about Chet’s threat if he ever saw Knox near her again. Knox doesn’t care and confesses his love for her. She asks him to forget about it and heads into class as the bell rings. Knox follows her inside and begins reciting an original poem that he wrote for her. Chris is mortified. In the next shot, Knox sneaks out through the school kitchen, grabbing a sandwich as he goes, and runs back to Welton in time for class. The boys finds Knox in the hall and ask how it went. He explains that he read the poem to her, but that she didn’t say anything, though he doesn't appear discouraged. The boys chase him down the hall asking for more information, but Knox only yells out, “Carpe diem!”
Next, Neil is sitting in Keating’s classroom alone. He lies and tells Keating that he talked to his father and that he’s grudgingly agreed to let Neil stay in the play. His father will be in Chicago and won’t make the show but seems like he’ll let Neil pursue acting. Neil thanks Keating for his encouragement.
In the following shot, the boys (minus Neil) are in the wash room getting ready to attend Neil’s play. Charlie comes out of the stall and reveals a red lightning bolt painted on his chest under his shirt, explaining that it’s an Indian warrior symbol for virility. The boys all leave together, but on their way out the door, they are surprised to see Chris Noel there to see Knox. Knox stays behind to talk with Chris. She reprimands him for visiting her at school and explains that she had to convince Chet not to kill him for it. Knox confesses that he loves Chris. Mr. Keating calls to Knox from a car full of the boys to ask him if he’s coming, but Knox tells him to go without them. Chris says she doesn’t care about Knox, but Knox argues that she wouldn’t be here warning him if she didn’t. He convinces her to come with him to Neil’s play, promising to leave her alone afterward if she’ll give him a chance.
At the play, Neil pops out on stage as Puck, exciting his friends in the audience. He carries out a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Knox and Chris show up late and find their seats. During one scene in the play, as Neil watches from the wing, he notices his father come into the theater. He continues with the play nonetheless. As it progresses, Knox reaches over and takes Chris’ hand. For his final monologue, Neil makes direct eye contact with his father. The audience erupts into applause and stands when he finishes. The cast bows together and then push Neil forward for his own bow as the boys and Keating whoop and cheer. Backstage, the cast congratulates one another and someone tells Neil that his father is looking for him. Neil comes out to the house to see the crowd filing out as his father waits. He pulls Neil through the crowd and directly into their car. Keating tries to intercept Neil to commend him on his talent, but Neil’s father tells Keating to stay away from his son. Keating lets them go, looking worried.
The camera pans up from a smoking ashtray and a framed picture of the Perry family to Neil and his father coming inside as his mother takes a drag from a cigarette. Neil sits as his father begins to lecture him about defying them. He tells Neil that he’s withdrawing him from Welton immediately and enrolling him in military school. He plans for Neil to attend Harvard and become a doctor. Neil protests and tries to tell his father how he really feels. Mr. Perry tells Neil to forget about acting; Neil decides not to say anything else. His father leaves to go to bed. Neil says how good he was in the play, speaking, it seems, partially to his mother and to partially to himself. His mother tells him to get some sleep.
Neil’s parents turn their lights off and climb in bed. The camera zooms in on Neil’s father’s slippers placed perfectly for him to step into the next morning. Off camera, he tells Neil’s mother that it’s going to be alright. Next, Neil is seen laying some nice clothes out on his bed. He strips off his shirt, places Puck’s crown on his head, looks forlornly out his open window, and slowly closes his eyes and bows his head. A door handle turns and Neil creeps quietly down the stairs. The camera pans across his father’s sleeping face. Next it shows Neil turning a key in his hand, which he uses to unlock a drawer in his father’s desk. He pulls out a gun wrapped in cloth and stares at it on the desk as the camera zooms out on him.
Neil’s father bolts up in bed, having heard a noise, waking Neil’s mother. Neil’s father goes into Neil room and sees the open window and Puck’s crown. He heads down the hall, turning on light after light, and comes down the stairs to the study. At first it appears empty, but then he sniffs and notices a small cloud of smoke rising from behind the desk. He looks down and sees first the gun on the floor and then Neil’s limp hand protruding from behind the desk. In horror-struck slow motion, he roars “NO!” as he scrambles behind it and finds Neil’s body. Neil’s mother comes in and begins screaming that Neil is alright, crescendoing into panic as Mr. Perry holds and consoles her.
Analysis
Mr. Nolan’s stern conversation with Mr. Keating following Charlie’s punishment for the article in the school paper marks the first real negative consequence of Keating’s unusual teaching practices. Mr. Nolan represents every conservative value that Welton holds dear, while Keating represents the new-age desire for his students to think critically and independently. Ironically, Mr. Nolan once held Keating’s job; the proverbial passing of the torch symbolizes how Keating provides a modern update to the class, while Nolan represents days gone by. Nolan’s statement that Keating should prepare the boys for college and nothing more demonstrates how rigidly he sticks to the latter in terms of the purposes of a "preparatory" education, and further demonstrates the chains that this places on the boys’ ability to bloom and flourish.
Neil ends up metaphorically caught between the influence of his father and Keating when his father discovers that he’s been attending play rehearsals behind his back and demands that Neil quit the play. At the beginning of the film, Neil was shown to follow his father’s orders even if he disliked them. However, having come a long way since the start of term, partly thanks to Keating, he’s no longer willing to give up what he loves. Mr. Keating’s advice that Neil should talk to his father proves optimistic but unsuccessful, forcing Neil to choose whether or not to defy his father further and potentially face greater consequences.
Knox’s “carpe diem” mentality reaches its peak when he visits Chris’ school and tries to woo her through poetry—the exact purpose for which poetry was created, according to Keating. This is the zenith of Knox’s defiance, as Chris reminds him of Chet’s threat to kill him if he ever saw Knox near Chris again. Knox, however, is undeterred, even following Chris into class to court her in front of her friends. When the boys first consider forming the Society, Knox doesn't think Chris would like his poetry—now, however, he uses it to his full advantage, a clear development of his courage.
The film reaches its climax in the form of Neil’s suicide. The culmination of Keating’s encouragement colliding with Neil’s father’s opposition to his son’s dreams becomes a conflict too burdensome for Neil to bear; as far as he can see, there is no way out. Ultimately, it’s not leaving Welton or even giving up acting that drives him to his extreme actions, but the broader notion that his life will not be his own until he’s in his late 20s. The next 8-10 years of forced education are a hill he doesn’t believe he can climb, and so taking his own life is his escape from this fate. When Neil places Puck’s crown on his head before committing the act, it draws a direct parallel to the image of Jesus Christ wearing the crown of thorns, depicting Neil as something of a martyr.
Neil's parents' heartbreaking reaction to finding their son's body in the study is a sobering reminder of the nuances of their characters, and speaks more broadly to the nature of the film's major conflicts: no one in this film, neither the Welton Administration nor Neil's strict parents, has malicious intentions behind their actions. Headmaster Nolan and the other conservative faculty genuinely believe that they are educating and preparing the boys in the most practical and beneficial manner possible. This is perhaps most evident in McAllister's talk with Keating, in which he quotes Tennyson: "Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I'll show you a happy man." McAllister genuinely believes that filling the boys' heads with dreams they cannot realize will make them unhappy, and so he wants to steer them away from that unhappiness. Similarly, Neil's father at more than one point in the film reminds Neil that he didn't have the same opportunities that Neil does, and that he doesn't want Neil to spoil the chances he's been given. This demonstrates a genuine desire for his son to lead the most fulfilling and successful life possible—the discrepancy just comes from his definitions of fulfillment and success. That Neil's parents are completely shattered by their son's death shows that they earnestly wanted the best for him, despite how they ultimately made him feel and the decision to which they drove him.
