The Pit is where majority of Bruces character arc occurs. A remote location in an unknown presumably Middle Eastern country where people are thrown to die. But what is the true meaning of The Pit? What is it really? For that, we first must look at a quote Christopher Nolan once used to describe Bruce, a man frozen in time. Then we must ask the obvious question: when is he frozen? One could say hes frozen to when his parents died but thats not what the film suggests. The film suggests that Bruce is frozen when he fell into the well in the opening of Batman Begins.
The Pit is a very obvious metaphor for the well that Bruce fell in as a child, the well that he is frozen in time within. What happened when he fell in the well? His father pulled him out. He never escaped that well for himself. Hes been trapped in that well his whole life. This is reflected in dialogue such as Alfreds insistence on Bruce finding a life outside of the cave (which, of course, is connected to the well). Bruce climbing from The Pit is not just an escape or him feeling fear again, instead its an escape from a moment he has been frozen in his entire life. Hes escaping the well he never escaped for himself, escaping a mental barrier hes created and finally ready to escape from. Hes finally ready to let go of the pain and anger that drove him to become an empty shell by the beginning of the film.
Hes finally able to live. This is the darkest irony of the film for me, Bane is the one that allows Bruce to learn how to live by robbing him of the one thing hes always been able to fall back upon: Batman. Bruce is only able to undergo his character arc when he has been stripped of his illusions and can see clearly what he is without Batman: nothing. This propels him to live as Bruce Wayne, not just as Batman.
I said wed return to Bane and now is the time. Bane, as mentioned before, is a dark reflection of Bruce. This was most obvious with parallels like both training and then leaving the League (Bane excommunicated, Bruce leaving voluntarily) but is reinforced through some much more subtle parallels between the two. A common complaint about Bane is that him not escaping The Pit weakened him as a character. I disagree. Bane is a monster. A man fuelled by hatred but still grappling with his own humanity. A man divided and unable to reconcile with himself. Bruce escapes from The Pit for himself, finally escaping a mental block and becoming the master of his own destiny. Much like Bruce was stuck in the well still before escaping, Bane is stuck in the Pit still. Bruce was saved from the well by his father and Bane was saved from The Pit by Ras. Bane never escaping The Pit is a metaphor for his mind. He never escaped that mental barrier that Bruce does while in The Pit. This mental barrier is allowing anger to rule his life. Bruce allowed this until his escape and Bane allows this until his demise. This is why he fails. Bruce has risen and has moved on from the anger while Bane allows it to control him. Look at two shots in the film:
What is the difference between the two? Bruce is screaming in the first. Hes yelling in anger and frustration. Hes controlled by his anger. The second shot has Bruce calm, collected and ready. Hes already beaten Bane and risen above what Bane could ever hope to be.
