Batman: the Dark Knight, is a movie that explores the aspects and roles of both the “official Hero, and the “outlaw hero.” It is the story of two “knights,” or heroes of sorts. It is about Batman, the outlaw hero, fighting off a crazy murdering psychopath and how he loses everything in the process because he pushes the criminals into retaliating back  by paying the Joker to kill and terrorize. The other character is Harvey Dent, who is the “official” hero, and he similarly loses everything to the Joker, but instead of pushing forward like Batman, he goes insane and starts killing people.

Harvey Dent from Batman the Dark Knight is, at the beginning of the movie, an official hero. Harvey Dent is in fact, a nearly perfect image of an official hero.  He is the district attorney for Gotham City, and is known by the city as “Gotham’s White Knight.” His job is to do the same thing that The Batman does, which is to catch criminals.  Harvey Dent’s physical appearance even gives off the sense of a bright shining hero with his young healthy person, his blond hair, and even his honest blue eyes. However, he also has some “outlaw hero” in him. He breaks the rules when he lies to the city and he says he is Batman so that the Batman has a chance to catch the Joker, or when he takes one of the Joker’s men and threatens him in an alley, which he does when he finds that the Joker has threatened the love of his life. He says near the beginning of the movie when defending Batman that, ">When their enemies were at the gates, the Romans would suspend democracy and appoint one man to protect the city. It wasn't considered an honor, it was considered a public service.” When Rachel says, “Harvey, the last man who they appointed the Republic was named Caesar and he never gave up his power.” He replies, Okay, fine. you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Which is a foreshadowing of what is going to happen. Later in the movie, when Harvey Dent loses Rachel, his girlfriend, he lets the Joker convince him that he should have revenge, and so Gotham’s “white Knight,” is turned into a villain. At the end of the movie he dies and they cover up his murders so that Gotham doesn’t lose hope in Harvey Dent’s initial fight against the crime in the city. He does both the things that he says a hero does. In reality he becomes the villain and kills people, but in the eyes of Gotham, when batman covers up for him, he dies a hero and is remembered for his noble cause.

Bruce Wayne, or as he is known by the criminals of Gotham city, Batman, is an “Outlaw” hero. Bruce Wayne is witty, intelligent, and dangerous. He is childish in the fact that he seems to enjoy his little game he plays by pretending to be a snobby, selfish, unintelligent playboy by day and The Batman by night. Robert B. Ray says that an outlaw hero has a distrust of society, which is shown by the fact that Bruce Wayne doesn’t think that Gotham’s police force is adequate enough to take care of Gotham without The Batman. So, just like an outlaw hero does, Bruce Wayne decides to take the law into his own hands to try and stop crime in Gotham city. One thing that suggests that maybe Batman might wish that he was able to fight crime lawfully is when the Joker says, “Don't talk like one of them, you're not. Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me. They need you right now. But when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper. See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you, when the chips are down, these... these civilized people will eat each other. See, I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve.” So it brings up the question of whether or not Batman really wants to fight crime masked and secret, but by the end of the movie he makes the decision of being Batman and taking not glory, but hate, because Bruce Wayne, or Batman, is there for the people, not for himself.

           

What is the difference between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent? In the movie, they are almost partners of sorts. Harvey Dent is the “White Knight,” and Bruce Wayne is the “Dark Knight. They help each other when Harvey protects Batman from Gotham by telling Gotham that he is Batman, and then Batman saves him from the Joker after that. Even their appearance is symbolic, in that Harvey has blond hair, blue eyes, and Bruce Wayne has dark hair and green eyes. Also the same thing is dearest to both of them, and that is that is that they are both in love with Rachael Dawes. When she dies however the two men have very different reactions. At the end of the movie, Harvey Dent’s statement, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” comes true when it happens to both him and Batman at the end of the movie. Harvey sees himself become the villain at the end of the story by threating and killing people, but in the same breath, when he dies by falling off a building, The police commissioner Gordon, and Batman decide to cover up Harvey’s crimes so that all the good work he did doesn’t get erased, therefore, Harvey dies a hero in the peoples’ eyes. Batman makes a choice and decides to take the blame because as he puts it, “I can do those things because I'm not a hero, not like Dent. I killed those people. That's what I can be. I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be. You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me. Set the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen. Because sometimes the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.” Batman decides to take the heroic blow because he is the not the “official white,” knight, but the “outlawed dark knight.” One interesting thing is that Batman also has the both of Harvey’s said possible ending for a hero, he dies a hero, “he stops being Gotham’s secret hero Batman by taking the blame for Harvey’s actions, and he lives long enough to see himself become the villain in the eyes of the people. This gives an interesting spin on the “official” and the “outlaw” hero.