Basic Trope: An
unsympathetic character acts out against a sympathetic character out of jealousy.
- Straight: Sally is jealous of the naturally-talented Alice, so she tries to make her life a living hell.
- Exaggerated: Sally repeatedly and openly tries to kill Alice at various intervals.
- Downplayed: Sally is jealous of Alice and steals her chocolate pudding.
- Justified: Sally and Alice are competing for the same rewards, so Sally wants to give herself any advantage she can.
- Inverted: Sally is jealous of Alice, but does everything she can to make Alice's life better.
- Subverted: It turns out that Sally is actually a huge Jerk with a Heart of Gold - being mean to Alice is just her way of pushing her to succeed even further.
- Double Subverted: But then it turns out that the Training from Hell angle was just an excuse to get Alice out of the picture for real.
- Parodied: Sally is The Hero in a To Be a Master type of anime, and the way she progresses up the ranks is by killing off or otherwise annoying the hell out of her opponents.
- Zig Zagged: As "Double Subverted"...except it turns out that Sally is so devoted to her Training from Hell angle that she makes it seem that she genuinely hates Alice - when the opposite is true.
- Averted: Sally is jealous, but not unreasonably so.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "Didn't Sally try to poison you because you were her rival?" "Oh, that's just crazy talk."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: "I am jealous of her, but that doesn't mean I should try to hurt her or anything."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Because Sally is so focused on her jealousy of Alice, she fails to develop her own talents enough to where she can achieve her own goals. As a result, she becomes a bitter failure while Alice goes on to great success.
- Sally spends so much time sabotaging and thwarting Alice that her own skills are neglected. When Alice finally gives up and leaves her career in shambles, Sally is no better off.
- Reconstructed:
- In time, however, she learns to bury the hatchet with Alice and the two become friends and collaborators.
- Sally then diverts all of her effort into improving her own skills and in time becomes Alice's equal, or at least becomes notable and celebrated in her own regard.
Back to
Driven by Envy.
