Poison Ivy is without a doubt one of the most complicated characters to be written in comic books. On one hand, she could just be considered a psychotic eco-terrorist, but beyond the thorns (at least as I have seen, and I am sure, a few others) is a rose trying to show her true beauty (pun intended).
Ivy was a victim of a terrible childhood, with possible abuse, or so she has said, and was abused considerably by Jason Woodrue, who trasformed her from a brilliant (and innocent) botanist, into some mutant monster. The mutations he caused her also left her unable to bear children, or even have intercourse without kiling her partner. Talk about a blow.
Her only seeming escape is her power over flora, whom she can apparently communicate with. And like an overprotective mother, she does what she believes is right to avenge her children. The cost of another's life is extreme, but that does not matter to her, it seems, as her "children" were hit first and in worse ways than her victims.
Ivy reveals to Batman, that she only began her career as a criminal to fund her project of creating an isolated eden where she can be alone with her vegetation, and she does manage this, only for it to be destroyed carelessly by a passing military aircraft.
Ivy is a strange sort. She does not wish to see the world in flames, like the Joker, she only wants to "purify" it, but her extremes cause her to damage others in the process. She only teams up with other villains either out of coercion or in need of their assets, but it can be seen that she is regretting her decision. (She would even go to such extremes as fighting and defeating other villains, at times. She really did a number on the Riddler!)
Two of her biggest moral decisions are taking in the orphans of Gotham that were devastated by a massive earthquake as her children, basically adopting them as her own; as well as her friendship and (obvious, yet unspoken) love for Harley Quinn.
Realizing that she was inadvertently harming her orphans with her toxins she gave up her martyrdom of Robinson Park and surrendered herself, seeking a cure for her condition, a cure which practically killed her.
Clayface tried to use her weakness of love for the orphans against her, and after teaming up with Batman, she avenged her capture by using the guy as mulch for Robinson park.
Her alliance with Harley Quinn is another of her positive points. In both incarnations of Cartoon and Comic, she initially sympathizes with Harley, due to the poor girl's abuse from the Joker, and takes her in (giving her a cure for Ivy's poison skin, so they could be together without the Jester dying). She shows signs of true affection for Harley, even protecting her from the Joker in times of need, to the point of crashing Harley's wedding to protect her from the Clown Prince of Crime.
After her revival, she apparently snapped, which caused her to accidently create Harvest. (I wonder when that guy will come back, so Ivy can atone for those actions and destroy it, once and for all.)
Granted, she also has done some pretty terrible things, and whether it truly registers in her mind is unsure.
So, I wonder, IS Poison Ivy simply misguided?
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