The Dark Knight - Character Discussion

Four days later and I'm still hung up with The Dark Knight. It really is a GREAT MOVIE. If you still haven't seen it, slap yourself and go to the cinemas. Immediately.

With that, I felt the urge of writing a character discussion. Of course, only my own interpretation of the movie's characters. I'm so stressed with Thesis and transcribing right now that I felt I have to dish it out. LOL!


S P O I L E R S


Batman/Bruce Wayne
The cape crusader is back to take down the psychotic criminal called the Joker. This time around, Batman is THE Batman that we all know-- the reputed hero. He has come full circle since the first movie where his development of Wayne into Batman was depicted.

In The Dark Knight, Batman/Bruce Wayne's main dillemmas were:

1. Is it possible to give up being Batman?
Bruce Wayne is eaten up by the question of 'Is it possible to give up Batman?' When the new DA Harvey Dent showed up, Wayne's hope has brighten. He was convinced that Dent is his hope. Dent could do what he couldn't: fight criminals without a mask on.

Along with this hope was her love for her childhood friend Rachel Dawes, who is now in a relationship with Dent. Wayne is still holding on to Dawes' promise that they can be together when his tenure as Batman is over.

2. Should he still continue being Batman, along with the question being 'Is it right or wrong'?
Bruce Wayne's primary reason in creating Batman is to promote good. He fights off crime to change a once so corrupted Gotham City which was ran by crime lords and corrupt police men. And he did made a difference. Crimes went low with the criminals thinking twice now before attempting crimes out of fear of the cape crusader.

But when the Joker comes along, Batman becomes disillusioned. Aside from inspiring good, the Joker is the living proof that Batman also inspired mad men. Hiding behind a mask and taking the law to his own hands, Batman inspired the Joker to become what he is-- an anti-thesis of Batman, also hiding under a mask and taking the law to his own hands by committing heinous crimes.

Along with these self conflicts, Batman is pushed to the brink: should he give it up?

In the end, Batman has come to a realization. With Harvey Dent's death, he was convinced that Batman will stay. Batman should stay.

If Dent's true fate is to be revealed to the public, it will cause a mass outcry-- and the Joker would've won. Batman convinced Commissioner Gordon to put all the blame on him to keep Harvey Dent's reputation clean-- all just to keep the people's hopes alive.

With it, Batman's mission continues. If Batman has to be a scapegoat, then so be it. Wayne has now fully embraced the title of Batman... now a complete vigilante placed on a manhunt by the police.


Harvey Dent
For me, Harvey Dent is probably the most conflicted man in this movie. His descent from an incorruptible district attorney to a raging mad man taking the law to his own hands, although tragic, is amazing.

He was a brave and noble man. He does what other men are scared to do: fight crime. Through it, he never found a need to hide under a mask. He was successful-- he convicted hundreds of criminal without an ounce of fear. Even Batman himself saw Dent as the symbol of Gotham's hope, and in a way, his own of hope of finally giving up the life of vigilance and passing on the torch to Dent as the new hero of Gotham City.

Likewise, Dent also respected Batman. He knew how important the dark knight is for the cause of fighting crime. When Batman decided to give up and reveal his identity, Dent instead covers up for him by owning up as Batman. Endangering his life just to protect the vigilante's identity.

Dent is bent on his mission of clearing up crime. He has no fear for his own life. But there is one person he will give it all up for, Rachel Dawes. Unfortunately, the Joker knew this. Actually, the Joker also knew how Batman also cared for Dawes, and he tried to hit two birds with one stone. Luckily for Batman, Alfred saved the day for him (see Alfred section).

Eventually, the Joker managed to corrupt the once heroic Harvey Dent with the elaborate plan of killing off the person that Dent cared for, Rachel Dawes. With his face half scarred, Harvey Dent now used the alias 'Two Face', running around the city and going after the criminals and people whom he thinks were responsible for Rachel's death. He began using his double sided coin to decided each person's fate: clean side=live, burned side=kill.

As the Joker have said, Harvey is his 'ace' in case everything else fails. With Dent's corruption and descent to madness, the people of Gotham City will lose all hope to see that their hero has fallen. Along that, hundreds of criminals that Dent has convicted would be set free.


Jim Gordon
One of the few policemen who are uncorrupted. He reluctantly worked with Batman and Harvey Dent to form a triumvirate to bring down the mafia. At first, they were successful. And then the Joker came along.

He was left frustrated that the Joker is always one step ahead of them. Much like Dent, he was unafraid to lose his own life... but his weakness is his loved ones. He faked his own death at one time just so he can plan the capture of the Joker, and sway the attention away from his family.

Eventually, he becomes disillusioned. He began losing confidence with his own abilities, with the Joker always having his way. Plus, learning that some of his own policemen were mafia informers, he began having trust issues. Even near the end, he was reluctant of trusting Batman himself when the latter proposed a plan of capturing the Joker. He was a complete mess when he learned that Dent has abducted his family.

All part of the Joker's elaborate plan, of course.

Thankfully for Gordon, Batman came in time to save his family.

Who knows what would've happened. If Dent succeeded in killing Gordon's son, would he have walk the same path that Harvey Dent did? Would he go mad as well? As Dent have said, criticize him only if he experienced the same thing that Dent went through: losing a loved one.

In this case, Gordon survived the Joker's plan thanks to Batman. At the end, he understood what he had to do. With Dent's death, Batman convinced him to place all the blame on the dark knight himself. He understood that this will be for the greater good: place all the blame on a masked vigilante to protect Harvey Dent's reputation-- and eventually the interest of a thousand.


The Joker
The man himself. Everything revolves around the Joker. And seeing how deranged the Joker is, it is surprising to see that out of all the main characters (Batman, Dent, and Gordon), he is the only one who is not conflicted. He knows what he is, and he knows what he wants. He has no doubts with himself.

He only wanted one thing: anarchy.

He never wanted money. He robbed banks just to prove a point. And at the end, he burned his 'share' of the mafia money just to state his power. All the Joker wanted is to cause anarchy out of the system.

With it, he targeted the triumvirate of Batman, Gordon, and Dent. He wanted to prove that nobody is incorruptible... even Batman himself. Thus, the Joker proceeds by plotting multiple elaborately crafted anarchy.

He starts off by mocking Batman, killing innocent people-- threatening them that if Batman will not reveal his true identity, that more innocent people will die. With Batman's initial inability to capture the Joker, he starts doubting himself, wondering if he should just give up being Batman, yielding to the Joker's command just to be able to avoid more innocent blood.

As it turned out, Batman was not the only target. So is Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon.

Gordon was disillusioned by the Joker by simply showing Gordon that no matter how he tried, people are corruptible, and that he (Gordon) couldn't trust anybody, not even his own men. The Joker proved this by letting himself capture by Gordon. And as easy as his capture was his escape. All with the assistance of corrupt police officers who are under the mafia's (the Joker's benefactor) payroll.

The worst of all the victims is no doubt Harvey Dent. Heroic and vagrant, Dent was left broken and mad after all was said and done. He was the people's hope. He was the 'white knight', fighting crime without hiding under a mask. Even Batman placed his hope on this man, and the Joker knew that if he breaks this man, everything-- the people's hope, all the good that Dent has stood for-- would be for nothing.

With the death of Rachel Dawes, came the death of Dent's own sanity. It was too much for him to take. And with the Joker's constant ribbing, he came full circle... he became Two-Face. He became a mad man who went after the people whom he thinks are responsible for his ordeal, deciding their fate with a toss of a coin.

All of it, the Joker's master plan. It's ingenious actually. Small things at a time, and when placed together, sums up to what the Joker was planning right at the beginning.

The 'final' plan of the Joker would've been ingenious. The people, now scared for their lives and convinced that they are really at the mercy of the Joker, are panicking. The Joker asked them to come aboard a ship if they wish not to be involved any longer. In another demand to the police, the Joker asked for a whole slew of convicts to be placed on another separate ship.

It turns out, the Joker placed bombs on both separate ships: the civilians and the convicts. The detonators, he gave to the leaders of each ships. The deal is, each one have a chance to blow up the other ship to save theirs. Blow up the other ship, or they blow you up. Only one ship will survive: either the convicts' or the civilians'.

And if they don't, the Joker will blow both ships come 12am.

All part of the Joker's experiment. He wanted to prove that people are selfish. That nobody wants to die, and that they'd rather kill another if only to save themselves.

Much to the Joker's surprise (and disappointment), time passed the deadline and nobody tried to blow each other up. Batman eventually caught up with him, and here, Joker picked his supposedly last straw: to force Batman to kill him, thus proving that nobody is incorruptible.

As he forced Batman to the brink, the cape crusader pushed the Joker to his apparent death much to the Joker's delight-- since this proves his theory that even the noblest of men will resort to killing if forced to the brink. Unfortunately for him, Batman still saved him-- making him come to the conclusion that Batman truly is incorruptible.

Joker admits defeat, but right then, he reveals to Batman that he has an 'ace'. The ace was Harvey Dent who has now turned into a mad man, currently holding Gordon's family hostage.

The Joker will seem to have the last laugh. He was able to corrupt the once noble Harvey Dent, after all. But then again, Batman owed up all of Dent's crime to retain Dent's clean image. The purpose is to keep the people's hope alive-- that their white knight died as a hero instead of a psychotic mad man. This was enough to ultimately beat the Joker's ultimate plan, as a whole.

+++

Alfred Pennyworth
Bruce Wayne's faithful confidante has probably done the most help for Batman in this movie. He didn't show Bruce Wayne the final letter that Rachel Dawes wrote.

The letter contains Rachel telling Bruce that she can no longer hold on to their promise that they can be together when Batman's job is over. It says that Rachel has decided to marry Harvey Dent, and he is bidding Bruce goodbye.

And as the film depicted, Bruce Wayne was hoping to drop the mantle of Batman if only for the thought of being together with Rachel. If Wayne has indeed read the letter, his spirit would've been broken-- with his only hope destroyed. The Joker would've won over him.

The Joker knew Batman cared about Rachel Dawes judging on how he reacted when he (the Joker) threw Dawes out of the window. With this, he knew he can hit two birds with one stone. By eliminating Rachel Dawes, he can break both Dent and Batman.

Alfred was wise enough not to show Bruce Wayne the letter. Ultimately, he protected Wayne from possibly breaking down.


Rachel Dawes
Her character is torn between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent. It is because of Wayne that she still can't accept Dent's proposal for marriage. In a way, she was still holding on to the promise that she and Wayne can be together after Batman's job is over.

Eventually, she came to the conclusion that Batman can, or should, NEVER give up as the hero. She knew that the people will always need a Batman. It was time for her to let go of Bruce. She decided to go with Harvey Dent.

Unfortunately for her, the Joker knew her importance to both Dent and Batman.
Dent went mad upon her death, while Batman was ultimately protected by Alfred by not showing him Dawes' last letter, which would've probably break Batman/Wayne's character.


Lucius Fox
Not much an arc for Lucius Fox in this movie. He was a straight forward character. Now the top executive working for Wayne Enterprises, he obviously knows the secret of Bruce Wayne's vigilante identity as he himself invents the gadgets Batman is using. He began assisting Wayne both in business and in the field work.

He still remains an honorable character. When Batman modified his cellphone-sonar invention, he deemed it too powerful to control and threatened Wayne that if this powerful tool is to remain, he will quit the company. Batman assured him that it is only for one time use, and that the tool will be destroyed after the mission.