Basic Trope: One half of a couple wants a divorce; the other is reluctant to go through with it.
- Straight: Alice wants a divorce from Bob, but Bob procrastinates about signing the papers.
- Exaggerated: Bob flat out refuses to sign the papers.
- Downplayed: Bob repeatedly asks Alice if she is sure, before eventually signing.
- Justified:
- Bob still has feelings for Alice, and/or wants to try and see if they can go through marriage counseling and "make it work."
- Bob wants to antagonize Alice for leaving him by dragging out the process for as long as possible.
- Bob doesn't believe in divorce.
- Bob fears he would lose face because of the divorce.
- Inverted:
- Alice wants Bob to propose marriage to her, but Bob is (for whatever reason(s)) dragging his feet about it.
- As soon as Alice mentions that possibility of divorce, Bob is ready to sign the paper, even if Alice does not have them.
- Subverted:
- The deadline is fast approaching, and though the papers are unsigned, it's because Bob has been busy and forgot about them.
- Or, Bob confronts Alice, and they agree that instead of divorcing, they will try couples' counselling first.
- Double Subverted: It turns out Bob still has feelings for Alice, and has been using "being swamped with work" as an excuse for avoiding the issue.
- Parodied: "No, you sign the papers first!"
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob are Happily Married, or at least not getting a divorce.
- Bob signs the papers right away.
- Enforced: "We need to segue into a drawn-out romance arc, with an Alice-Bob-Charles Love Triangle."
- Lampshaded: "I need him to sign those Goddamned, fucking papers! Otherwise, Charles and I can't get married!"
- Invoked: Alice gets involved with Charles, but she wants to get her Lazy Husband Bob out of the way.
- Exploited: Bob is extremely controlling, so refusing to sign the papers is one last way for him to push Alice around.
- Defied:
- Bob signs the papers right away, because he wants the divorce as badly as Alice does.
- Alice and Bob agree to try counseling before getting a divorce.
- Discussed: "Bob's not going to sign those divorce papers."
- Conversed: "Ever notice how on TV, the guys are slow to get into a marriage, and even slower to get out of one, than the girls are? What's up with that?"
- Deconstructed: See "Double Subverted".
- Reconstructed: Alice and Bob talk about their issues, and either reconsider the divorce (and work through their problems), or agree that it's better to just end it.
- Played For Drama: Bob is an abusive husband and wants to prolong the miserable marriage as long as possible.
- Implied: Alice divorces Bob offscreen, much later than she said she wanted to divorce him.
Back to Foot-Dragging Divorcee
