In The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan incorporates features of philosophical ideology, particularly those concepts related to existentialism. Existentialism includes the configuration of propositions regarding the essence of human existence. Different philosophers have coined their own doctrines, often building on previous ideas. Because there are common themes within existentialism, connections can be made between different ideas. When observed closely, the interconnectedness of concepts can be detected throughout the plot and characters of The Dark Knight. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The film is set in a city called Gotham, where Batman resides. Harvey Dent, the new district attorney, wants to push forward with a plan to defeat the crime and violence that has become evident throughout the city. Batman, a vigilante, believes he can help eliminate this crime, and people fighting for the same cause are emerging, including Kent, Batman and Lieutenant Jim Gordon. However, when a villain called “The Joker” disrupts Gotham, he destroys the potential for peace in the city. He planned to have a bank robbed and used the stolen money to target the people of Gotham, particularly Batman and Harvey Dent, while still causing chaos throughout the city. Between the Joker's sadistic taunts and self-reflections on his own role in Gotham society, the film contains many psychological tests for the characters that force them to reconsider all their beliefs. The characters in The Dark Knight encompass the various ideas of philosophers such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Sartre when faced with situations that address personal virtues, decisions, and morality. Batman often finds himself examining his position on the larger spectrum of justice for the people of his city. As a hero, he must make decisions on behalf of other people and it is his responsibility to act on situations in the right or wrong way. Even though God isn't a major figure in the film, the city of Gotham is the center of everything for Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego. Crime is horrendous in Gotham, and the violence ultimately led to the murder of his parents. After reflecting on the trauma he suffered as a boy, Wayne reevaluates his life and decides to fight this crime in Gotham. Metaphorically, Gotham is God to Bruce Wayne, who has complete faith in society and its people. Søren Kierkegaard distinguishes between two different types of people: the Knight of Faith and the tragic hero. He compares the two by saying that “while the tragic hero is great by his moral virtue, [the Knight of Faith] is great by a purely personal virtue. ” (Kaufmann 14). In other words, the Knight of Faith is one who can be separated from the universal due to his radical faith. The relationship with one's faith is the justification for moving away from what is known as common morality. Meanwhile, the tragic hero is committed to the moral code that the Knight of Faith can abandon. Because of this moral code, the tragic hero can be recognizable and can be considered for the "universal" or common good (12). Batman struggles to choose one and fights whether he is a hero or whether he is a vigilante which can serve as an analogy to the Knight of Faith and the tragic hero. Batman appears to be a tragic hero because he serves the people of Gotham, but he is actually more representative of the Knight of Faith. Batman is often faced with decisions on behalf of Gotham, from choosing between two lives, to killing Harvey Dent and taking responsibility for Dent's actions, Batman is not demonstrating moral integrity. He's making the decisions he believesthey will serve his faith for the city, abandoning all moral codes. The Joker is another representation of abandoning a moral code, but his reasoning is at odds with Batman's reasoning. The Joker believed in isolation from the crowd and its moral codes, regardless of faith. The Joker tells Batman, “Don't talk like one of them, you're not. Even if you want to be. To them you are just a monster, like me. As they argue in prison, the Joker wants Batman to understand that the people of Gotham's concept of moral code is corrupt. He says: “Their morals, their code, is a bad joke, abandoned at the first sign of trouble. They are only as good as the world allows them to be. These civilized people will eat each other. I'm not a monster…” (“Prison Scene”). The moral code represents the majority, or the collective, which philosophers like Nietzsche resented. Nietzsche believed that men are not honest with themselves and cannot find their true identity. He stated that people must only reflect on their individual selves and create their own meaning, which can only be done through isolation (Kaufmann 123). Rather than prioritizing a materialistic approach, he believed that human consideration towards their experiences, happy or unhappy, should be the primary focus. As a collective, society fears being removed and becoming an individual, so they rely on each other and a common agreement. Traditionally, this belief that binds individuals together is the Judeo-Christian belief. Nietzsche recognizes that people use religion to console themselves and mocks people when he says, “How can we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murders? "(126). Questioning the existence of God takes away credibility from the moral code of Christianity and takes away self-validation from people who conform to the same morality. In the text, Nietzsche presents a madman to represent the idea that there should be people progressive, denying purely Christian morality as a guide. This madman is similar to the Joker in that he recognizes the flaws of a moral code. He says to Batman: “You have all these rules and you think they will save you know the truth. The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules." When he refers to rules, he refers to the same concept that people cannot understand the true meaning of life if they cannot decide this meaning for themselves. . The Joker is portrayed as the villain of Gotham because he defies morals such as “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not kill”. His argument, which we see in the Death of God mentality, is that the moral code is a social construct used by ignorant people who need justification and who would otherwise be lost. The conflict between the Joker and Harvey Dent, mentioned above, deals with the concepts of freedom and terror, as presented by Kierkegaard. He defines terror as “a sympathetic antipathy and an antipathic sympathy” (Kaufmann 102). It describes the anxiety that humans experience in their lives, which is often related to having to make a decision. Freedom of choice leads to the “vertigo of freedom” which is awareness of the responsibility of making a choice (105). Having the power to choose can make a person feel scared because they are conflicted about whether or not they are making the right choice. He says that people are given absolute freedom, and therefore just as easily as they can make the right decision, they can make choices that terrify them. Terror refers to original sin and Kierkegaard made this connection through Adam and Eve. Adam did not know that the forbidden fruit was evil before the original sin, awareness.