True Protagonist: Batman

Although Batman may seem as a threat to society, his true intentions to protect Gotham and being self righteous symbolizes the true knight, the dark knight. Unlike Dent, Batman accomplishes his task though hidden and undetectable ways. This allows for freedom and the necessity of being unknown. Without these key points, Batman would lose the symbol of a force because he would abide by the law and analyzed easily by his enemies. An example of this is when Nolan creates a scene using low key lighting involving Batman, Dent, and Gordon. The same light projector described above to signal for batman is shown first to provide the necessary lighting that Dent represents. The light is later turned off as Batman appears. The lower lighting illustrates a mysterious unknown identity which describes Batman’s approach to society. The scene continues with Dent and Gordon arguing over the capturing of the mob’s accountant Lau. Eventually in another series of events Batman captures Lau by using his hidden tactics that he symbolizes and brings him to Dent and Gordon. The selfless deed that Batman provided for Dent is never discovered by Gotham and instead the only event they notice is Lau being captured by Dent. Batman does not need to receive the credit because he needs Dent to represent justice in the view of society thus making him the true knight who carries Gotham’s hope.

Antagonist: The Joker, An Agent Of Chaos

The Joker is of flesh and blood, not immortal but the disregard of petty constraint and the insatiable lust for chaos /destruction that makes The Joker scary. In one pivotal scene, The Joker quietly but vehemently urges Batman (Christian Bale) to run him down with the Batpod, a collision that would surely kill The Joker. It is not his own survival that The Joker considers, but the assertion of chaos.

To get Batman to break his one rule – to never resort to killing – would be The Joker’s ultimate victory. To spread the influence of disarray, to transform Gotham into a true “world without rules” (to reference the film’s latest tagline) is The Joker's only goal. Not to survive, not to kill Batman, but to break Batman, to drag him down to The Joker’s level. This ultimate embrace of sheer ruthless nihilism both effectively scares the other conventional villains in the film, as well as the film’s audience. Heath Ledger's deeply unsettling performance as this beacon of cinematic evil will endure in audiences' memory and film history for generations to come.

Opposing both Batman and Dent, the symbol of anarchy and psychopathic senselessness is represented by The Joker. Realizing that the mobs have been nullified by both Batman and Dent, The Joker plans on taking over Gotham’s crime by making them work as one unit under his direction. There are many scenes in which the public, views The Joker’s actions openly. An example is when The Joker says, “You and your kind, all you care about is money. This city deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them!” To represent the anarchy he symbolizes, there is a scene in which The Joker is burning a mountain of money. With the mob in his control, The Joker successfully unified crime and made them realize his views. Society who has dealt with crime before will have to encounter a different take on criminals because they fight for something else other than money thus this brings fear to the public. Another reason in which The Joker’s symbolism can be fearful is due to his random killings on the public. The Joker has no empathy for anyone and will capture those as he sees fit. In a scene in which the Joker is on television says, “See, this is how crazy Batman's made Gotham! If you want order in Gotham, Batman must take off his mask and turn himself in. Oh, and every day he doesn't, people will die, starting tonight. I'm a man of my word.” A feeling of how insane The Joker can become by killing random person every day. The message of this scene is to make the people of Gotham desperate so that they can turn over their true hero. If Gotham were to turn in Batman, The Joker would be able to apply his anarchist views with no opposition because his symbol of anarchy is so great the people will listen.

Protagonist & Antagonist: Harvey Dent, A Fallen Hero

Dent’s representation as a white knight shines hope to the people of Gotham. As a district attorney Dent has become the force within justice because of all the recent mobs that have gone under trial in Gotham. The ability that allows Dent to be seen as a true crime fighter compared to the masked vigilante is due to his political and judicial powers. These powers are recognized by the people of Gotham as correct and are made official from the public. An example of this is a scene where Dent is seen trialing a mob thug. Dent would say, “If you want to kill a public servant, Mr. Maroni, I recommend you buy American, Get him out of here! (Cheers from the crowd)” The mob that has plagued Gotham before cannot stop the force in which Dent represents. Usually Gotham’s mobs are more boisterous in that they are allowed to do as they please. But when Dent took over as the new District Attorney, the audience can perceive that the mob has resulted into petty planning by trying to kill him rather than trying to corrupt him. Another example of ethos is through Dent’s heroic sacrifice during a press conference regarding the Joker’s demands to reveal Batman’s identity. Harvey took matters into his own hands and presented himself as Batman. Although he knew he wasn’t the real Batman, he understood his position well. As Gotham’s “White Knight”, he realized that it wouldn’t be far from the truth to call himself Batman. Based on his merits and achievements, the people of Gotham wouldn’t disregard his potential at being the masked vigilante. After all, this was the man who locked up half of Gotham’s criminal. Based on that alone, the people of Gotham knew that if anyone were deserving to be called Batman, if would be Harvey himself.

Harvey staves off a would be assassin in the courtroom. Harvey sends 500 criminals behind bars in the largest mass arrest in Gotham's history. Harvey works in concert with Batman to get the bad guys. He's a hero. But even in his set-up, we see the seeds of his character's Deconstruction:

* Harvey is cock-sure and hell-bent on achieving his goals. As long as he's on the right side of the law, that's fine. But if he ever goes to the 'dark' side, we can anticipate him carrying with him that same single-minded purposefulness -- with negative ramifications.

* It's Harvey himself who voices this notable line: "I guess you die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Harvey was prepared to die a hero if Rachel could live. Unfortunately, she died and he lived, albeit with a grossly disfigured face (a turn of events which is hinted at [ironically] with Bruce Wayne's toast -- "To the face of Gotham's bright future -- Harvey Dent.")