The Dark Knight: The Prize is the Soul

I am not the only one who has sat and puzzled about allegories in The Dark Knight. It's the kind of movie that seems like it ought to lend itself to allegories, yet when you dig deeper, you find yourself in a maze of twists and turns, could-bes and neverminds. You already know that sometimes I'll play with the story a little bit to make it fit my allegorical ends, but something about The Dark Knight screams that there is an obvious parallel to be made. It just needs to be found. (And no - good guess, but no - it's not Batman's sacrificial bearing of blame.)

It's Gotham and, in a man, Harvey Dent. Not Batman or Bruce. Not Gordon. Not Rachel. This story is not about them. The prize fought for is Harvey and, more generally, Gotham. Which is not what the viewer is led to suspect.

When the movie begins, when the Joker is revealed, you assume that it's Batman he's after. After all, Batman is the good guy, the savior of Batman Begins, the prince, the prize. There is no better man for the Joker to antagonize than Batman. Yet that's not who he sets his sights upon as he begins his own game. Sure the game involves Batman; he's a necessary part of the story. He completes the love triangle between Rachel and Harvey. He is the big secret that Gordon won't spill.

But he's not the prize. Harvey Dent is the prize.

Is it because the Joker knows that he can't beat Batman? Does he just accept that this is his archrival, a fitting opponent to someone so ingenius as himself? Someone to play with, someone who will unwittingly play to the Joker's rules? He tells Batman, "This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object." He considers him unbeatable. So he sets his sights on something else, something that adds a thrill to his game, something he can actually win: the soul of Harvey Dent.

And the soul of Gotham. Until the end of the story, they are synonymous. The Joker systematically goes about to break their spirits completely. He manipulates Harvey into living and Harvey's love into death. He forces the city of Gotham into turmoil, betraying their own, turning against their savior. He doesn't rush about killing thousands of people; he doesn't have to. His real methods are much more subtle, and much less noticed.

It's not a battle for a person, dead or alive. It's the battle for the soul. The Joker would benefit nothing from Harvey's death. And that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to turn Harvey from "Gotham's white knight" to the dust, to evil. And he had the advantage, for evil is what we are born into. "Madness, as you know, is like gravity," the Joker tells Batman. "All it takes is a little push!" David writes, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." We're much more susceptible to evil than to good.

And, in the battle for the soul of Harvey Dent, the Joker was the victor. Harvey believed the lies, believed the darkness, and he became the very thing he had once worked against. He became the Joker's ace, agreeing that the villian was right. He could - did - fall. He began as the epitome of good, and he ended as vengeful evil, the prize of the Joker.

But there was another soul in whom the Joker had interest. It wasn't one man, it was a city. The city of Gotham. And after he had kneaded their minds into thoughts of betrayal, of murder, of fear, of panic, he sent them onto the water and told them to kill each other. He had representatives from both sides of Gotham: the mob criminals, and average citizens.

Neither pressed the detonator. Neither took a life. And that was the shattering blow to the Joker. That was the evidence that with all his effort, he had not won. Sure it was hard, the gravity of darkness pulled at them ravenously. Yet they did not succumb.

And that was victory. The Joker waited for fireworks and was disappointed.

The demise of the Joker's plot was not the sustaining of Harvey's good repuation by Batman's sacrifice. No, it was in the resilence of ordinary people, a motley crew. Yet it was they who won, they who gained the upper hand, the victory.

(It is worth noting that the enemy's prey was not, who is in this case, the savior-prince. It's the people, the same people who in Batman Begins were not considered worth living. That's his target. We are made in the image of God, and that in itself is enough to be worthy of his hate. And everyday he plays with our minds, working tirelessly and brilliantly, and hoping that it will be enough to gain our souls: the prize. He can usually predict us, and can read human nature well. It is only when we stay grounded with our eyes on God, the Great Protector, that we have any hope of victory.)