History Main / CatchTheConscience

* Played with in Greg Sestero's memoir/making-of book ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist''. Sestero takes [[CloudCuckooLander Tommy Wiseau]] to the movies one night and Wiseau demands that they see ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'', although Sestero tries to nudge him toward seeing anything else specifically because he worries that the unstable Wiseau will see too much of himself in the title character and have a nervous breakdown. When they see the film, however, Wiseau misses the parallels completely and the movie is apparently one of the things that inspired Wiseau to make ''Film/TheRoom''.

* Played with in Greg Sestero's memoir/making-of book ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist''. Sestero takes [[CloudCuckooLander Tommy Wiseau]] to the movies one night and Wiseau demands that they see ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'', although Sestero tries to nudge him toward seeing anything else specifically because he worries that the unstable Wiseau will see too much of himself in the title character and have a nervous breakdown. When they see the film, however, Wiseau misses the parallels completely and the movie is apparently one of the things that inspired Wiseau to make ''Film/TheRoom''.

* ''Series/TheRiseOfPhoenixes'': Noble Consort Chang goes to corner Ning Yi in Yilan Palace. Ning Yi and Zhi Wei know she's coming, so Ning Yi gets Zhi Wei to pretend to be Ya Le's ghost and to say Noble Consort Chang framed her. Noble Consort Chang freaks out when she hears "Ya Le" accuse her.
* In ''Series/TheKingsWoman'', a performer sings a song warning girls their lovers will use and abandon them. Queen Dowager Zhao and her former lover Lü Bu Wei look very uncomfortable during the song.

* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E13TheConscienceOfTheKing The Conscience of the King]]" [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] this trope; a man suspected of being the murderous tyrant [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Kodos the Executioner]] happens to be an actor currently starring in a production of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''[[note]]He ''is'' Kodos, but he isn't the villain of the episode.[[/note]].
* In an episode of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood‎'', Robin and Little John witness a man murder his brother. The killer accuses the Merry Men. The authorities seem willing to believe him. Robin and John get cast in a CainAndAbel play to get him to confess.

* Tried in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'''s "The Tragedy of Greenhilt, Prince of Denmark," only it goes completely OffTheRails. (Greenhilt snaps after [[{{Franchise/Transformers}} Optimus Prime]] shows up.) Still, it works, sort of.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', Diane attempts to get [=BoJack=] to tell her about an incident where he went further than he should have with an underage girl by writing a flashback scene into his ClicheStorm detective show where his character kisses a young girl before leaving her to die, which is revealed to be the deep guilt plaguing his character. This backfires horribly when [=BoJack=] starts reading into other elements of the script imitating his life as well, even generic ones, and becomes seriously LostInCharacter.

* The TropeNamer is ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', whose title character puts on a play about a murder, called either ''The Murder of Gonzago'' or ''The Mouse-Trap'', to remind Claudius of the murder of Hamlet's father, which Hamlet suspects that Claudius is responsible for. Claudius is so unnerved by the performance that he has to leave the room, which confirms to Hamlet that the ghost that visited him was right, and that Claudius indeed murdered his father.

* The TropeNamer is ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', whose title character puts on a play about a murder, called either ''The Murder of Gonzago'' or ''The Mouse-Trap'', to remind Claudius of the murder of Hamlet's father, which Hamlet suspects Claudius is responsible for. Claudius is so unnerved by the performance that he has to leave the room, which confirms to Hamlet that Claudius indeed killed his father.

* The TropeNamer is ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', whose title character puts on a play about a murder, called either ''The Murder of Gonzago'' or ''The Mouse-Trap'', to remind Claudius of the murder of Hamlet's father, which Hamlet suspects that Claudius is responsible for. Claudius is so unnerved by the performance that he has to leave the room, which confirms to Hamlet that Claudius is indeed the murderer of his father.

* The TropeNamer is ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', whose title character puts on a play about a murder, called either ''The Murder of Gonzago'' or ''The Mouse-Trap'', to remind Claudius of his guilt. Claudius is so unnerved by the performance that he has to leave the room, which confirms to Hamlet that Claudius is indeed the murderer of his father.

* The TropeNamer is ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', whose title character puts on a play about a murder, called either ''The Murder of Gonzago'' or ''The Mouse-Trap'', to remind Claudius of his guilt. Claudius is so unnerved by the performance that he has to leave the room.
* In ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'', Tuptim, at the end of "The Small House of Uncle Thomas," declares: "I too am glad for death of King. Of any King who pursues slave who is unhappy and tries to join her lover!" She almost gets carried away before a musical signal reminds her to deliver the bittersweet epilogue of the story. The King does not ignore this insult to his authority.

* The TropeNamer is ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', whose title character puts on a play about a murder, called either ''The Murder of Gonzago'' or ''The Mouse-Trap'', to remind Claudius of his guilt.

* The ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Storyteller", in order to get Andrew to feel remorse for his killing of Jonathan.
* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Conscience of the King" [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] this trope; a man suspected of being the murderous tyrant [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Kodos the Executioner]] happens to be an actor currently starring in a production of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''[[note]]He ''is'' Kodos, but he isn't the villain of the episode.[[/note]].

* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' gets parodied in ''Discworld/WyrdSisters''. The witches ''think'' this is why Tomjon and his strolling players are putting on a play about the old king's death. It isn't; they've been hired to do a propaganda piece that says Verence was a tyrant whose death was an accident. The witches then alter the play to do this themselves. Rather than feeling guilty, the Duke finally loses all connection to reality, but this still leads to a confession of sorts, so it's a result.

Some group of people want a person to feel remorse for his crime. To do this, they put on some sort of a performance specifically designed to remind him of his crime. This is one of those plots where doing the sensible thing -- just reminding the guy -- makes for a short, dull story. So we are going to make things elaborate.

* Played with in Greg Sestero's memoir/making-of book ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist''. Sestero takes [[CloudCuckooLander Tommy Wiseau]] to the movies one night and Wiseau demands that they see ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'', although Sestero tries to nudge him toward seeing anything else specifically because he worries that the unstable Wiseau will see too much of himself in the title character and have a nervous breakdown. When they see the film, however, Wiseau misses the parallels completely and the movie is apparently one of the things that inspires Wiseau to make ''Film/TheRoom''.

* In the 1982 TV movie ''Rehearsal for Murder'', a playwright whose actress fiance committed suicide after the opening night of his new play has reason to believe she was actually murdered. A year later, he reunites her three co-stars, the play's director, and its producer for a reading of a work in progress that the quintet quickly realizes is not only inspired by the actress's fate, but is a ploy to figure out which of them slew her, each of the "scenes" representing their motives. They even bring up the TropeNamer along the way, and find they cannot leave the theater without arousing the suspicions of a police investigator, who is cooperating with the playwright. There are two big reveals along the way to the ending: First, [[spoiler: the police investigator is actually a hired actor]], and second, [[spoiler: the situation is actually a play within a play of sorts, an elaborate ruse on the part of the playwright and the five "suspects" -- ''the hired actor'' is the killer they're drawing out]].