The Joker: One of the Greatest Auras of Evil

The quote that sums up this idea of evil and chaos given away by the Joker is fairly late in the film when the Joker gives his sales pitch to Harvey Dent. He says that criminals are all out to scheme and plot, and are ultimately driven by greed. He then explains that he likes to throw the monkey wrench into their plans. Also, this approach applies not only to criminals who stand in his way, but innocent bystanders and law enforcement. The Joker personifies chaos and evil, and wastes no time in letting anyone who he encounters know so.

Mind games are the Joker's favorite form of chaos. He turns comrades against each other, forces people to make seemingly impossible decisions with no good outcome, and fulfills your worst nightmares of a hardened criminal. The most scary part of this is simply the fact that the Joker is extremely intelligent, and keeps his cool in the worst of situations. He does not seem concerned when faced with insurmountable odds, and gets his jollies from the distress of others.

Recall the interrogation of the Joker. He gives in to the demands of Batman and discloses the location of both of his abducted comrades. The twist? He gives the addresses of the victims opposite of their actual location, forcing Batman to save the friend he was concerned less with. This alone is a huge notch on the Joker's belt, leaving Batman faced with the mental distraction that he failed to save the love of his life. Furthermore, the Joker profits later on these events when he's able to turn Harvey Dent into a diabolical madman.

The motivation behind the Joker's action are simple, he likes chaos! This classifies him as a totally different type of criminal. He jumps off the largest pile of money I've ever seen in a film, and laughingly torches it. He doesn't need money. He sums this up while burning the money by saying he prefers gun powder, dynamite, gasoline...and they're all cheap. What a great viewpoint for a villain to have. A criminal without greed is definitely a scary and shady character.

The final part of the film that I felt really summed up the Joker's evil aura is the situation presented when two boat loads of people find that they are on separate ships, each rigged with a bomb, and the detonator is in the hands of the people on the other ship. Even though good triumphs over evil in this case as the occupants of the boats do not blow their counterparts to smithereens, it greatly showcases the way the Joker thinks, what makes him tick, and how he operates. The great part is that one of the boats is predominantly populated with convicts. An even greater twist; he gives normally good people a great excuse to cross the line and become evil. Once again, his mind games amuse him to no end. What's the big deal if good does triumph for a few minutes? He still holds the master key in his hand, the detonator to both bombs.

I believe that the Joker character portrayed in the Dark Knight is one of, if not the most evil character in a feature film, ever. You never know what to expect next, and there's always a twist at the end that you never saw coming. On so many levels, the Joker personifies everything that a hardened criminal is, without greed, which makes him terrifying. I definitely do not want to meet him in person.