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Batman Hero's Journey

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From this point on Batman reflects the characteristics of The Woodward as he focuses all of his energy into being a warrior and stopping the joker. The Batman has a dramatic fight with the joker and eventually captures him alive. However, The joker has a manic laugh when he finally looks Batman in the eye and reveals that he sees this night as a victory. The Joker is proud as he boasts of his greatest achievement. He claims “I took Gotham's white knight and I brought him down to our level. It wasn't hard. You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push!” (Nolan, Dark Knight). Bruce immediately leaves to find Dent, but it was too late, by the time he finds him Dents is holding commissioner Gordon’s Family at gunpoint. …show more content…

While he did manage to capture the joker, the joker ended up being correct. He predicted earlier that night that Batman would break his one rule (his no killing rule), and ultimately Batman did. In saving Gordon’s son he throws Harvey off the side of a building and kills him. But perhaps the more crushing defeat is the moral one. Batman couldn’t save Harvey Dent. Harvey turned into a murderer and a maniac, therefore the Joker was right; Gotham’s white Knight had truly fallen. At this point Batman can choose to accept his defeat and let Harvey’s legacy be destroyed by what the joker did, but somewhere along his journey to self actualization Bruce Wayne realized the importance of a symbol, a figure people could turn to to give them hope in desperate times. Harvey was already that figure, and Bruce Wayne was willing to do anything to preserve that image. Bruce decided he would take the fall for Harvey’s crime, because, as commissioner Gordon says, “he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight” (Nolan, Dark Knight). In choosing to persecute Batman the idea is reinforced that Batman isn’t a Hero people to turn to for hope. Bruce won’t get any praise for his actions, but his unselfish acts

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