The Dark Knight: Rachel owes Bruce nothing

I’ve noticed a weird trend with some fan’s viewpoint of The Dark Knight and particularly Rachel Dawes, portrayed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. This is not regarding the frankly sexist, disgusting things said about her physical appearance, that’s been going on since 2008 and I have no interest in continuing or dignifying it. Rather, it’s more a general misunderstanding of her character and where it fits in that story.

Her role in Begins is definitely a bit odd to me and feels like a studio note at times, though she gets some great moments (namely in the car when she slaps Bruce for taking a gun to kill Joe Chill). But her role in The Dark Knight I think is way more nuanced and interesting.

The very common critique that I’ve read is that Rachel is cruel to Bruce by “promising to be with him then deciding to be with Harvey instead.” I find this very bizarre and just plain wrong. Rachel absolutely makes the right call by writing that letter to Bruce. She’s right in everything she says, and she writes the letter right at a critical moment where she finally decides to cognize it and make the right decision for herself.

Bruce will not stop being Batman until the mission is complete. He has many opportunities within the film to give up his identity to the Joker or put down his crusade in more symbolic ways, giving up the mission to the Batman copycats or simply leaving with Rachel and never looking back but he makes clear throughout the film he has a narrow minded, almost religious devotion to being Batman and rooting out crime completely from Gotham. He’s much like the Joker in that way as both are fully committed to sacrificing themselves for vision of Gotham (two sides of a coin, after all).

Bruce and Rachel’s relationship from the beginning of the film is depicted as hopeless. Think of the shot where Rachel leaves to join Harvey at the party and leaves Bruce alone on the balcony overlooking the city. That tells you everything you need to know. Rachel represents a possible chance of leaving his mission behind, as she points out, and I think a part of Rachel really mourns the person Bruce was. However Rachel puts herself before that and decides to get out while she still can which turns out to be tragically ironic. A cruel joke if you will.