Name: Finding Your Voice: Lessons from Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society
Uploaded: 2026-02-22T22:35:12.000Z
Duration: 11 min 2 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute.

We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.

And the human race is filled with passion.

If you've seen Dead Poet Society, then you know the kind of impact this film leaves on you.

It's inspiring, it's moving, it challenges your soul.

It's exactly what a great piece of art should be.

One of the themes that Dead Poets Society wrestles with is.

Is the role that beauty, art and love should play in our lives.

But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

I think on some level we know there's truth in that statement, even though it isn't exactly obvious why it's true.

What role should passions play in our lives?

It might be good to start by establishing what we mean when we say passions.

When you think of the passions in your own life, you might think of your favorite hobby, someone you're passionate about, or perhaps a piece of art or entertainment.

And you can be passionate about any of those things because a passion is really just a feeling, a feeling that makes you inclined towards something.

In Dead Poets Society, we have a few examples of young men developing passions for various things.

First, we have Neil, who has a passion for acting.

Ever since I can remember, I wanted to try this.

Second, we have Knox, who takes an interest in women.

And then we have Todd, who doesn't have any particular passion at all.

His story is more of one coming to the realization that it's okay to have passions and to care deeply about something.

Dead Poets Society wrestles with these questions.

On one hand, we have some characters that show the viewpoint that young men need structure.

They need to be told what to pursue and to ignore their passions.

Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I'll show you a happy man.

You take a big risk by encouraging them to become artists, John.

And this idea isn't completely unreasonable.

Often passions of young men lead them to foolish things.

And on the other hand, we have a character encouraging the students to be free thinkers.

Keating, spends the film encouraging the boys to break out of their conforming ways and to think for themselves and dare to have their own beliefs.

Now, my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again.

And these opposing worldviews One that says the boys should follow the guidance of their elders, and

the other that says they should think for themselves, become the two worldviews that the students engage with throughout the film.

In the beginning, the students are conformists.

They proudly partake in the school's traditions and learn what is prescribed.

And by the end, some disobey the guidance of their elders and do what they believe is right.

So does the film tell us to be free thinkers doing whatever our passions desire?

No, it actually takes a nuanced stance, one that is necessary for an optimal life.

See, there's a time for daring and there's a time for caution.

And a wise man understands which is called for.

No, it's not that passions are inherently good or bad.

But one must know when to pursue them and when to set them aside.

And to know how to be wise enough to do that, we'll have to look into the question, why do we have passions?

Passions are our body's way of encouraging us to reach for something.

It's part of our human instinct to reach for greatness.

We may not know that it leads to our greatness or.

But often, if we dig into our psychology, we will find that our passions usually tend to be the things that better our lives.

For me, sport is actually a chance for us to have other human beings push us to excel.

So passions are our subconscious longing for something that usually leads to our greatness.

But just because our subconscious leads us in that direction, it doesn't mean it's always the best.

There are times we become passionate about things that no longer serve to better us.

I like to think of our passions as advice from our own body.

It's often good advice, but just like the advice from others, it's not always correct.

One must weigh all the options, all the advice from all the sources, and choose an optimal path.

Now, when you read, don't just consider what the author thinks.

See, the benefit of being a free thinker is not that you can do whatever you desire, whatever your body's telling you to do, but

you have your own thoughts and considerations as an option and in addition to what the rest of the world offers as an option.

Only then can you have the opportunity to break away from the normal path that the rest of society takes, when your option is actually different and better.

And then you can reach something that's perhaps extraordinary.

But what happens if we're no longer able to be A free thinker.

What if all our plans are laid out for us and we're not allowed to consider other options, particularly our own passions?

After you finished medical school and you're on your own, then you can do as you well please.

The story examines this scenario with the character Neil.

Neil's journey begins as a young man following his father's guidance.

Keating's teachings, he begins to think for himself and discover what he is passionate about.

However, this passion for acting leads to his father taking disciplinary action.

Tomorrow I'm withdrawing you from Welton and enrolling you in Brayton Military School.

You're going to Harvard and you're going to be a doctor.

This restriction of his free will leads to a tragic end for Neil, as he's unable to bear a life without being able to pursue his passion.

Now, many would be delighted to go down the path that the father has prescribed, as it will lead to a successful life.

But the thing is, not everyone has the same desires.

Not all of us have the same goal in mind.

What the father considers a successful life, Neil does not see as living a great life.

And Neil, like all of us, longed to live a great life.

And to have that opportunity stripped away from him causes a deep pain, one that becomes unbearable.

And just to be clear, Neil's final decision was not good.

It's understandable as to why he hated his situation, but that does not justify it.