For the purposes of this essay, I am delegating Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) as the main character in this movie. He is the only student who sufficiently grasped Keating’s teachings and discovered his verse. Therefore I believe he is the only dynamic character in the movie. (See the philosophy page for my reasoning behind this.)
Charles Dalton aka Nwanda
Charles Dalton’s (Gale Hansen) character thrives on attention. He takes on an “above the law,” and in a sense, has a “God-complex,” meaning he feels that he should always be in control of the situation and that he will not have to face the consequences of any of his actions. Unfortunately, he has to learn […]
Neil Perry
To start, I want to express that I don’t believe Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) is the main character, and I would like to stress that 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 […]
Meeks & Pitts
I don’t particularly think these characters are significant, so I can’t really make a judgment as to whether they truly understood Keating’s message. I assume they did to a certain extent, but their characters aren’t really developed enough to sufficiently determine if they did or didn’t.
Knox Overstreet
Everything in Knox Overstreet’s (Josh Charles) life occurred out of impulse, out of his romanticism, and just because everything “worked out” for him in the end, doesn’t mean that this concept was the true meaning of the film. Knox was a static character – he didn’t undergo any kind of self-realization like Todd did. He […]