"You either die a hero..."

Christopher Nolan's 2008 mega success about Batman's attempts to defeat a criminal mastermind known only as the Joker.
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Four years later, I am not entirely sure what this quote means, and how it fits into the context of TDK. Can someone explain why it's so significant?

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It means that in life you are given choices and this defines who you will become morally. You choose who you are and if you choose to be bad than you are the villian but if you choose to be good then you are a hero. We are all faced with the choice of being good or bad but you only you can choose it.

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To go deeper, I think Harvey was saying that it's hard to be a hero and not be corrupted by society. Also, with Rachel's example of Caesar, when given power it's hard not to be corrupted by that.

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Falcone wrote:Four years later, I am not entirely sure what this quote means, and how it fits into the context of TDK. Can someone explain why it's so significant?
Its a perfect allegory for what Batman is going through..just you wait and see.

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that its impossible live long enough as a hero.

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basically, what Mark said...you can only be a hero for so long, before society turns on you, or you are corrupted by society...so you either die while you're a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain

in TDK, both Harvey and Dent became villains...Dent to the audience, and Batman to Gotham

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mchekhov wrote:basically, what Mark said...you can only be a hero for so long, before society turns on you, or you are corrupted by society...so you either die while you're a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain

in TDK, both Batman and Dent became villains...Dent to the audience, and Batman to Gotham
fixed.

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mchekhov wrote:basically, what Mark said...you can only be a hero for so long, before society turns on you, or you are corrupted by society...so you either die while you're a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain

in TDK, both Harvey and Dent became villains...Dent to the audience, and Batman to Gotham
End on a high note... Or be booed off the stage for completing your act.. to put it as a Shakespearean analogy.
Dent's death makes him a hero... Naturally batman must assume the role of the villain (having survived)

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I found this forum because i love that quote so much, and it really struck me when i first heard it watching TDK. It happens to most, we are hardest on ourselves. It matters little what one might have done in younger days that transgressed one's' moral boundaries, it's all relative, the seeds of self-doubt and/or self-hate having been planted, will grow and flourish. There's precious little black and white, and so much grey... it's the hardest thing, to love one's self...

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interesting to think about how this quote carries over and resonates with TDKR's ending

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