History Main / GoodAdulteryBadAdultery

* ''DoctorZhivago'' stars a pair of lovers who were themselves married to other people. The woman was married to a fanatical boor and the affair was seen as an escape for her. Interestingly, the man's wife was portrayed as sympathetic- and yet he is not considered to be a total scumbag.
** Considering the way the movie is pitched to the viewer, with the love story emphasized above all else as "the point of the film", the fact that the lovers are technically cheating on their spouses is kind of FridgeLogic for some viewers.

** What makes this interesting is that it's clear from Addison's reaction that she thought Meredith and the other interns [[YouShouldKnowThisALready already knew all this]]- Addison knew there was gossip going around about her and she confronts some interns earlier in the episode. Apparently all the characters besides the doctors were LockedOutOfTheLoop.

Adultery, good or bad, is NotToBeConfusedWith [[{{Polyamory}} open relationships]] where the partners [[EthicalSlut are honest with each other and not in a abusive way]].

* used in ''{{Dodsworth}}''. Throughout the main part of the film, the wife, desperate to feel young, wealthy and attractive, pursues other men and lashes out at her husband whenever he implies any impropriety on her part; the film makes an effort to understand her state of mind, but she's still unsympathetic. The husband, meanwhile, winds up leaving her in the end for a much nicer woman, and it plays out as a triumphant moment.

** By the way, they were only married because their parents arranged the marriage, and the only reason Apu didn't run away was because he thought Manjula was pretty. Not a very healthy thing to build a relationship on.

* Used in ''JaneEyre'', where the cheating husband's wife is a lunatic who tries to kill him multiple times. Although this still doesn't explain [[FridgeLogic why Rochester never even mentioned she existed until he was about to marry Jane]].

* In AynRand's ''AtlasShrugged'', Lillian Rearden discovers that her husband Hank is having an affair, and since she thinks it's some casual fling with some floozy, admits that she will neither divorce him nor tell him to break it off. Until she discovers whom he's having the affair with: [[spoiler:Dagny Taggart]], then she becomes horribly upset and tries to demand he stop it.

* AynRand drew a distinction between good and bad adultery. She had an affair with a prominent player in her Objectivist movement, Nathaniel Branden, a married man, and rationalized it by saying two people of their intellectual caliber were morally obligated to enter a relationship. However, Brandon later had an affair with another woman, for which he was practically excommunicated from the Objectivist cause.

*** Although its been suggested that Branden's wife was heavily pressured into issuing consent by both Branden and Rand, was not actually happy with the affair, stating that it was "agonizingly painful", and that it may have played a role in their later divorce.

* Speaking of retribution, Garth Brooks' ''The Thunder Rolls'' has the wife of the philanderer kill her husband--or at least preparing to at the end ("Tonight will be the last night/She'll wonder where he's been!"), after waiting up late, fretful and worried for his life as he returns from a rendezvous.
** Another Brooks example ''Papa Loved Mama''. Wife slutting it up while her husband (a truck driver) was out on the road. Husband comes home unexpectedly and kills the wife by running his truck through the hotel she's cheating on him in. The song isn't particularly sympathetic to either of them.

** What makes it better is that she cheating on him with MF DOOM A.K.A, Daniel Dumile A.K.A.,... Viktor Vaughn.

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** Another event happens with Rachel when she actively sabotages one of Ross' relationships to get him back, and then writes him an 18-page letter - front and back - telling him what ''he'' did wrong the last time and making him take full responsibility for the break-up before she'll let him get back together with her. She then spends the rest of the episode ''rubbing it in'' in the most condescending manner possible until he finally snaps and they break up again.
** There's also the fact that one of the main factors creating tension in their relationship was Ross's insistence, and Rachel's denial thereof, that Mark was interested in Rachel romantically. After the breakup, it was subsequently revealed that Mark ''was'' interested in Rachel- and the show ''never'' addresses the fact that Ross was right.
** I can't side with Ross on that matter. Yes, as it turns out, Mark was interested in Rachel. But he NEVER, EVER, said or did anything to indicate this. He respected both Rachel and her relationship with Ross enough to keep his mouth shut and not try to pursue her or interfere in their relationship and break them up. It's not until MONTHS after Ross and Rachel break up that he admits to having feelings for her (which shows that he also had the sense to wait a decent amount of time)and when she doesn't respond in kind, he accepts it and backs off. Furthermore, even if Mark HAD been acting like some smarmy lout trying to steal Rachel away from Ross, Rachel made it abundantly clear to Ross that she loved HIM and was not interested in Mark. Ross refused to accept or believe that.
*** The reason you'll find a lot of Ross sympathizers is because Ross's situation happens to be a very ''scary'' instance of TruthInTelevision for boyfriends/husbands. Men can often "smell" it in the air when another man has a crush on a woman, especially if the woman in question happens to be their spouse. The appropriate thing to do here is to warn their partner about it, which is what Ross did. And Rachel's response is every man's worst nightmare come true - flat out denial of the very possibility, while insisting that even if true, it wouldn't matter because it's him she's in love with. [[GenderFlip Think about it for a second]] - would a woman be able to peacefully abide her husband/boyfriend spending their entire day with a girl who's crushing after him? Also, to any male who's ever been in a relationship, it's ''painfully'' obvious from the very start that Mark ''is'' interested in Rachel, and it's a profound WallBanger that Rachel, the stereotypically "popular" high school cheerleader grown up, never picks up on it.
**** "...every man's worse nightmare come true"? She dismisses the idea out of hand because she's never even considered him in a romantic light, and re-affirms her commitment to what she has with Ross. That's the exact right response in that situation! She's not responsible for how Mark feels. This does happen all the time in real life, but mature adults should understand that the issue (barring stalker-y situations) isn't how someone OUTSIDE of their relationship feels about their significant other,it's whether they trust each other.