History Main / SelfPunishmentOverFailure

* ''Literature/TheMonsterBaruCormorant'': The renegade admiral Ormsment hires the mercenary Tain Shir for the mutual goal of getting revenge on Baru; after Shir fails, Ormsment makes it clear that she'll be flogged, to remind her dissatisfied crew of her authority. Unfazed, Shir volunteers for the even nastier punishment of keelhauling, and when Ormsment [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou balks]], dives off the ship and keelhauls ''herself''. It's not that Shir believes she deserves it, she just wants to demonstrate she's harder than everyone on the ship put together (plus the futility of punishing someone [[{{Determinator}} like her]]), so when she climbs up the other side even Ormsment is impressed enough to obey when Shir dictates where they'll go next on their quest.

* ''Literature/TheMonsterBaruCormorant'': The renegade admiral Ormsment hires the mercenary Tain Shir for the mutual goal of getting revenge on Baru; after Shir fails, Ormsment makes it clear that she'll be flogged, to remind her dissatisfied crew of her authority. Unfazed, Shir volunteers for the even nastier punishment of keelhauling, and when Ormsment [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou balks]], dives off the ship and keelhauls ''herself''. It's not that Shir believes she deserves it, she just wants to demonstrate she's harder than everyone on the ship put together, so when she climbs up the other side even Ormsment is impressed enough to obey when Shir dictates where they'll go next on their quest.

* ''Literature/TheMonsterBaruCormorant'': The renegade admiral Ormsment hires the mercenary Tain Shir for the mutual goal of getting revenge on Baru; after Shir fails, Ormsment makes it clear that she'll be flogged, to remind her dissatisfied crew of her authority. Unfazed, Shir volunteers for the even nastier punishment of keelhauling, and when Ormsment [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou balks]], dives off the ship and keelhauls ''herself''. When Shir climbs up the other side, the crew is awed by her tenacity, and Ormsment obeys her when she dictates where they'll go next.

A common characteristic of people who put HonorBeforeReason; in this case reason is learning from your mistakes and moving on, but your overarching sense of moral honor demands you to inflict "retribution" upon yourself. Compare YouHaveFailedMe (when the boss does the punishing for his subordinates), TheAtoner (when it's done over a long term), MartyrWithoutACause (when they would like to sacrifice themselves for petty reasons), and SelfRestraint (which may not be because of failure). Contrast SelfDisposingVillain (when a villain doesn't mean to "punish" themselves for getting defeated) and MyGreatestFailure.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': In one episode, Alexis Castle grounds ''herself'' for a week after she jumps a subway turnstile without paying.

* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Inspector Taiichiro Nagare failed to heed Mari's warnings about Kiritaka which resulted in his son's death (in his defense, he was in the middle of a stakeout and the target was moving). He considers his [[AllTheOtherReindeer subsequent mistreatment by his fellow police officers]] and Mari's divorce as just punishments for failing to properly look after his son as he refuses to forgive himself.

!!Examples

* ''Anime/OnePiece'': After Luffy and Zoro defeats the corrupt and megalomaniac Marine Captain Morgan, his subordinate Lt. Ripper decides not to capture them but tells them to go away from the island. While they're grateful to our protagonists for doing what they did, because they're still pirates and Ripper intentionally let them go, he then punished himself, along with his subordinates, with no lunch for a week.

* Farnese from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' practiced self-flagellation whenever she was in a self-loathing mood, which often happened when she did something she felt was a sin. Part of it was also her repressed sexuality and sadomasochism. Thankfully, she gets better about things.

* ''ComicBook/TheRedeemer'': Malakev, having failed his master Klovis the Redeemer during a DuelToTheDeath on cranes (he messed up the controls, nearly killing Klovis), immediately asks to look up his appropriate punishment in the Liber Excruciatus once Klovis returns. Klovis denies him this, but promises that it is only a reprieve, and even spares Malakev when [[spoiler:an artifact causes Klovis' men to attack him.]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* In ''FanFic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'', Nova Shine is prone to this whenever he feels he's made a mistake. At one point, he loses his cool and screams at Twilight for attempting to pry into his private life, but then spends the rest of the afternoon confined to his room rather than sightseeing. In another moment, he and his father fail to make amends and he ends the night by losing his cool with them as well, but then spends the next week in a self-imposed exile in Twilight's basement.

* In the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon short cartoon "Plutopia," Pluto dreams that he's being served by a cat butler. When the cat makes a mistake, he demands that Pluto punish him, and when he doesn't, he beats himself up and even tries to shoot himself.

* This is John's fate at the end of ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', punishing himself in isolation (and with [[ATasteOfTheLash whips]]) for falling into the temptation of sex [[spoiler: before eventually hanging himself.]]
* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''Winterfair Gifts'', Armsman Pym puts himself on extended night duty after he failed to detect the poisoned necklace among Ekaterin's wedding gifts. It also serves as a reward for man who had caught the poisoning attempt, as it means he doesn't have to serve on the night shift for a while.
* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'': Dobby, the house elf under the [[spoiler:Malfoy]] family, actually intentionally tells Harry about important things that the latter should know, against the family's orders. He still bashes his head on hard things over doing this, though. It's also revealed that self-punishment is SOP for house elves, with Dobby hurting himself so often that his master doesn't bother keeping track.
* In ''Explorers of Literature/{{Gor}}'' we see a trial conducted by jungle emperor Bila Huruma.
-->Two murderers were next brought to him for sentencing...The second, an askari, had killed another askari...The askari was ordered to be speared to death by one of his own kin. In this fashion his honor would be protected and there would be no beginning of a possible blood feud between families. The askari petitioned, however, to be permitted to die instead fighting the enemies of the ubarate. This petition was denied on the grounds that he had, by slaying his comrade, not permitted this same privilege to him. This judgment was accepted unquestioningly by the askari. "But am I not of my own kin, my [Lord]?" he asked. "Yes," had said Bila Huruma. He was taken outside. He would be given a short-handled stabbing spear and would be permitted to throw himself upon it.
* In Creator/JamesClavell's ''Literature/{{Shogun}}'', there is an early exchange when Toranaga is a "guest" in the castle of his sworn enemy, Ishido. Ishido deliberately provokes Toranaga with incivility and rudeness, hoping to goad his enemy into a reaction that will provoke a fight and justify wiping out his rival. A young Toranaga samurai falls for the ploy and draws his sword. Toranaga is forced to order the youth to die for his impetuosity. Knowing he has failed his master and belatedly realising why his death has been ordered - to save everyone else's lives - he submits, surrenders his swords, accepts he is no longer samurai, and crawls to the place where common criminals are executed. (For in raising a sword to the great Lord Ishido, he has made himself a common criminal).

* In ''Literature/TheSecretOfPlatform13,'' the three nurses [[SameSexTriplets Lily, Rose and Violet]] defy orders by taking the infant Prince through the [[PortalDoor gump]]; he winds up getting kidnapped, and he can't be recovered until the gump opens again in nine years. The King and Queen are too nice to punish the nurses, so they move into a cove and punish themselves by eating nothing but rotting food, sleeping on hard rocks, and constantly dipping their body parts in freezing water. When the rescue part finally goes to retrieve the Prince they wait right by the gump with a big box of bananas, desperately waiting for when their punishment can end.

* The zealous monk Silas from ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' routinely flogs himself and wears a painful cilice each time he pursues a lead to the Holy Grail only to encounter a dead end. Guided by his Teacher (Rector), Silas has killed Jacques Sauniere at the Louvre and the Mother Superior at Saint Sulpice yet came away with no further clue.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E02TheShip The Ship]]", a contingent of Jem'Hadar commit suicide for allowing a Founder to die.
* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': The episode "Sweet Johnny" revolved around Earl trying to make amends with an amateur daredevil named Sweet Johnny. Because Sweet Johnny suffered a series of head injuries achieved so Earl could have sex with his girlfriend, he had developed a [[GroundhogDayLoop Groundhog Day-type mental condition]]. When Earl realized that, by being aware of this condition, Sweet Johnny would rather kill himself, Earl decided to not complete this item and instead circled it as a permanent reminder of what he did to Sweet Johnny.
* ''Series/RedDwarf''
** Played with in the episode "The Beginning" when one of the Simulants fails in his task and the lead bad guy hands him his sword and tells him he knows what to do. The lieutenant who failed then stabs himself with it, [[PoorCommunicationKills only to be told that he was only expected to clean it]] and to stop jumping to conclusions.
** Kryten does this a lot, including almost shooting himself over his actions when his guilt was removed in "Polymorph".

* On ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer,'' a group of vampires called the Three attack [[TheHero Buffy]] and [[RomanticVampireBoy Angel]], who defeat them. Their code of honor insists that they then offer their lives to [[LooksLikeOrlok the Master]] in penance. He comments that their deaths will give him little pleasure...then kills them anyway, because hey, a little is better than nothing.

* In ''Series/TheWire'' when one of [[KarmicThief Omar's]] robberies from [[TheSyndicate the Barksdale Organization]] goes wrong and gets a member of his gang killed, he is deeply remorseful for having insisted on doing the robbery despite signs that the Barksdales were beefing up security due to his prior attacks and does a bit of atonement by putting out a lit cigar in his palm.

* ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': Whenever Ryunosuke would feel that he had failed his lord, he would do something over the top to punish himself as he begged for forgiveness (banging his head on the ground in apology, jumping into a waterfall-styled fountain, etc.)
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Death to the Daleks", a Dalek self-destructs in guilt because it had let a prisoner escape.
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': In the third season, Alfie lies to Amber about her receiving a call from a New York fashion school because he doesn't want her to leave. After breaking down from the guilt, he tells her the truth and she's upset at him for a while. When they meet up in the hallway, she's holding a glass of milk, and he dumps the milk on his head as a self-punishment.
* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': In one episode, Alexis Castle grounds ''herself'' for a week after she jumps a subway turnstile without paying.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E17HomerTheSmithers Homer The Smithers]]", Waylon Smithers (who had already showcased himself to be absurdly loyal to Mr. Burns) takes his failure to protect Burns from a drunk (but very friendly) Lenny and accidentally not letting Mr. Burns be able to do a Junior Jumble (because he laminated the newspaper) so badly that he tries to drown himself in a water cooler. Mr. Burns then demands Smithers take a vacation, which makes things worse for both of them.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode, "So Long Sucker", when Scratch and Grounder return to Robotnik's fortress after a failed attempt to catch Sonic, Grounder brings back the pieces of their planes and accidentally drops them on Robotnik's foot. Just to save Robotnik the trouble of doing so, Grounder kicks himself in the butt. When he and Scratch try to explain the situation to Robotnik [[note]] that an alien creature from another dimension sucked up Scratch's plane with his VacuumMouth [[/note]], Robotnik doesn't believe it and demands that Grounder keep kicking himself.

* Creator/BrunoBozzetto animated ''WesternAnimation/{{Help}}'', centering on Jof the cat, who visits a hospital for a sore finger. Jof tries to open the front door by pressing the button with his elbow, his toe, his nose; nothing works. At last, Jof tries pressing the button with his sore finger, which activates the door. Jof beats the top of his head with his tail, as if admonishing himself that [[RuleOfFunny only the funniest solution]] would work.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', Mr. Herriman, in his desperation to hide his carrot addiction, makes up a rule about no standing on rugs as an excuse to send some friends to their room without supper before they catch him. Wilt sees this and, noting he's standing on a rug too, asks Mr. Herriman if he should also go to his room. Mr. Herriman angrily tells him to figure it out himself, resulting in Wilt spending the rest of the episode trying to figure out how to punish himself without breaking any other rule Mr. Herriman pulls out of his tail.

* This is John's fate at the end of ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', punishing himself in isolation (and with [[WhipItGood whips]]) for falling into the temptation of sex [[spoiler: before eventually hanging himself.]]

* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''Winterfair Gifts'', Armsman Pym puts himself on extended night duty after he failed to detect the poisoned necklace among Ekaterin's wedding gifts.

* ''Videogame/{{Arcanum}}'': The Dwarf King Loghaire Thunderstone was once faced with a SadisticChoice by a delegation of elves; the elves felt they had been wronged by the Black Mountain Clan and, fearing a war between elves and dwarves, [[ShootTheDog Loghaire allowed the elves to punish the Black Mountain as they saw fit]]. However, letting elves interfere in dwarven justice was a betrayal of both Black Mountain and the dwarven philosophy of Shape and Stone, and Loghaire immediately abdicated his throne and exiled himself to an abandoned monster-filled mineshaft called the Dredge to ponder his own shame. If your character learns about Shape and Stone philosophy before they meet him, they can convince him that reclaiming his throne and actively trying to right this wrong would be a more productive course of action, allowing him to forgive himself and turning him into TheAtoner.

* In ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', Yasuo was framed for murdering his master Souma and spent years searching for the true killer. When it finally comes to light that Souma died in an accident, the local council seems ready to let bygones be bygones -- Yasuo, however, thinks he should have been there to prevent the accident and exiles himself in punishment.

-->-- '''Smithers''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Homer the Smithers"

[[folder:Films-- Animated]]

[[folder:Films-- Live-Action]]

* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'': Dobby, the house elf under the [[spoiler:Malfoy]] family, actually intentionally tells Harry about important things that the latter should know, against the family's orders. He still bashes his head on hard things over doing this, though.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E5TheDuhVinciCode The Duh-Vinci Code]]" Animatronio, a wooden robot built by Leonardo da Vinci, flays himself to death after [[IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou telling the Planet Express crew about a fountain where da Vinci's secrets may be found]].

* ''Anime/OnePiece'': After Luffy and Zoro defeats the corrupt and megalomaniac Marine Captain Morgan, his subordinate Lt. Ripper decides not to capture them, but tells them to go away from the island. While they're grateful to our protagonists for doing what they did, because they're still pirates and Ripper intentionally let them go, he then punished himself, along with his subordinates, with no lunch for a week.

* In ''FanFic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'', Nova Shine is prone to this whenever he feels he's made a mistake. At one point, he loses his cool and screams at Twilight for attempting to pry into his private life, but then spends the rest of the afternoon confined to his room rather than sight-seeing. In another moment, he and his father fail to make amends and he ends the night by losing his cool with them as well, but then spends the next week in a self-imposed exile in Twilight's basement.

* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'': After getting a fellow trainee killed, Rico quits the academy... [[spoiler:but quickly joins back up when the Bugs drop an asteroid on his home town.]]

* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': The episode "Sweet Johnny" revolved around Earl trying to make amends with an amateur daredevil named Sweet Johnny. Because Sweet Johnny suffered a series of head injuries achieved so Earl could have sex with his girlfriend, he had developed a [[GroundhogDayLoop Groundhog Day-type mental condition]]. When Earl realized that, by being aware of this condition, Sweet Johnny would rather kill himself, Earl decided to not complete this item and instead circled it as a permanent reminder for what he did to Sweet Johnny.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Death to the Daleks", a Dalek self-destructs in guilt because it let a prisoner escape.

* Katz goes through one of these in ''WebAnimation/MonsterLab2021'' episode 7. After his MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment in the previous episode, he makes himself go though public humiliation. [[DeconstructedTrope Everyone around him finds this really unnecessary]].

* One sketch of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' inverts UnsatisfiableCustomer and goes UpToEleven with it with the personnel of a restaurant that all go despairingly berserk and eventually commit suicide because they deem a slightly badly washed ''[[DisproportionateRetribution fork]]'' a colossal failure to their professionalism.