The most outstanding quotation that characterised the Joker's monstrous nature is when he is in the interrogation room with Batman and he says, "See I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve." Perhaps the most terrifying thing about what he says is that he doesn't think he is a monster. While, perhaps psychologically, his way of thinking makes sense, my interpretation is the Joker thinks that he is an example of humanity in a world that is ruled by chaos and anarchy, where morals and ethical codes have no power. In the scene where he is burning his share of the money as a pyre for the accountant Lau, he says that he doesn't want fame, power or money, he just wants to show that deep down inside everyone is just as mad as he is. His argument is that while people claim that they will never do what the Joker claims they will under any circumstance, that is only because they are in a structured society that doesn't need them to do that. But once people are faced with death, that will all change and everyone will adopt the Joker's anarchistic outlook to avoid death. Thus, there is the Joker's philosophy that he is "just ahead of the curve" and that he is exhibiting these behaviours earlier than others. Therefore, one can infer that the Joker considers himself as a superhuman, or a human with an increased capability in something, and not as a monster. He thinks of himself as an "evolved human" in a particular set of circumstances. This is, in essence, why this quote shows that the Joker has a monstrous nature: he thinks his actions are justified and that he is not a monster as society thinks he is, but he is just a manifestation of what humanity will become after he has destroyed society. This quotation also shows the monstrous nature of the Joker because he doesn't consider himself as a societal monster. I think that the Joker considers himself as a saviour that intends to bring his own definition of "peace" to the world by destroying society to start from scratch: starting a world ruled by anarchy and chaos.
Related to that is how Harvey Dent, the "white knight" of Gotham City, fell from his position of good. Harvey Dent, in a sense, became the Joker's first convert. The Joker tells Dent in the hospital: "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh and you know the thing about chaos, it’s fair." After getting his face burned off and his fiance killed because of police officials that the Joker bribed to capture him and Rachel Dawes, Dent is filled with a strong hunger for vengeance and revenge, and the Joker plays on this to make Dent see his twisted philosophy. My interpretation is that he considers chaos as a just force, and what is ironic is that Dent, the "white knight" and attorney, agrees to join the Joker in his mission to spread chaos and destroy society. In addition, when the Joker said to "upset the established order", I think he means to tell Dent to do things in a way that followed no specific pattern or "honour code", but to do things almost randomly and chaotically. This may have led to Two-Face's adoption of leaving his victim's fate to the flip of a coin.
I think the Joker is a monster because he doesn't consider himself a monster, but almost a "hero" that has the ability to bring "peace" to the world, letting chaos and anarchy rule. I believe that he thinks he is an "evolved human" who exhibits certain traits that everyone will show once he has destroyed society, and the reason why he wants to destroy society is because he wants to bring about his definition of "peace", which is a society ruled by chaos. The Joker is an agent of chaos, and he works unpredictably, which "upset(s) the established order, and everything becomes chaos". Therefore, the Joker is a monster of chaos.
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