History PlayingWith / AmbitionIsEvil

* '''Averted''': Personal Ambition is never brought as a motivation for doing evil.

** The writers are opposed to social mobility, and make Alice ambitious to make rising in the world look bad.

** Alice, like all adults in Tropevania, teach the children that being ambitious is wrong and they should be content with their lot. Fast-forward 40 years, and business owners, clerics, and political leaders are dying off [[ALessonLearnedTooWell with no-one amongst the younger generations having any inclination to take their place.]] The economy implodes as businesses close left and right, society is in chaos, infrastructure is disintegrating for want of maintenance, and Tropevania is coming apart at the seams because of the lack of leadership.

** Alice, like all adults in Tropevania, teach the children that being ambitious is wrong and they should be content with their lot. Fast-forward 40 years, and business owners, clerics, and political leaders are dying off [[ALessonLearnedTooWell with no-one amongst the younger generations with any inclination to take their place.]] The economy implodes as businesses close left and right, society is in chaos, infrastructure is disintegrating for want of maintenance, and Tropevania is coming apart at the seams because of the lack of leadership.

** Alice, like all adults in Tropevania, teach the children that being ambitious is wrong and they should be content with their lot. Fast-forward 40 years, and Tropevania is coming apart at the seams. Business owners, clerics, and political leaders are dying off, [[ALessonLearnedTooWell and there is no-one amongst the younger generations with any inclination to take their place.]]

** Alice, like all adults in Tropevania, teach the children that being ambitious is wrong and they should be content with their lot. Fast-forward 40 years, and Tropevania is coming apart at the seams, as business owners, clerics, and political leaders retire or die, [[ALessonLearnedTooWell there is no-one amongst the younger generations with any inclination to take their place.]]

* '''Exploited''': Alice gets lured by the [[TheStarscream secretly envious Vivian]] who serves Alice's goals and schemes loyally and fuels her vices by plying her with call-boys and drugs, until she gets Alice in a vulnerable position, murders her and claims all of her possessions, status and achievements for herself.

* '''Enforced''': "We have to make the ambitious co-worker an amoral [[TheSociopath sociopath]], [[Film/AmericanPsycho willing to backstab anyone to get what he wants]]. He will exist as a constrast to Alice who is ambitious too but honest and hardworking instead."

* '''Defied''': Alice is really determined to get a promotion, but refuses to compromise her morals to get it.

* '''Downplayed''': Alice is very competitive and cares a lot about her grades--which makes her rather unpopular among her classmates.

** Alice [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist was originally one of the villains, but left them so she could pursue her own (significantly less evil) goals]].

** It's a CrapsackWorld where in order to get ahead in life, one needs to throw away any moral compass they may have had and unapologetically delve into corruption and evildoing. .

* Alice ends up doing a HeelFaceTurn after realizing being evil won't get her anywhere. Whereas, her former evil allies are content with being petty criminals.

** The highly ambitious Alice is the star, lauded for her willingness to destroy anything and anyone in her way to get what she wants, while the hard-working but honest and upstanding Bob is derided for his refusal to do anything morally corrupt.

** The villain does acts of villainy out of impulse and for [[ForTheEvulz simple amusement]] and isn't interested in any [[EvilIsPetty long term goals]]. While the hero is very hard working, goal-oriented and has an actual perspective in mind other than his own personal gain and amusement (possibly showing that the hero is mature and responsible in contrast to the villain).

%%* '''Implied''': ???

%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???

'''Basic Trope''': Trying to improve your lot in life [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop is something only bad guys do]].
* '''Straight''': Alice is very ambitious and is treated like a bad guy for it.

** It's a CrapsackWorld where in order to get ahead in life, one needs some measure of vision, desire, assertion, ruthlessness and will to power. Alice is just taking it too far.
** Being ambitious requires one to focus more on their dreams more than personal relationships and helping others.
** Alice shows a callous willingness to step on others without hesitation if it can help her reach her goals faster and she is also unapologetic about this behavior to boot, and as a result has earned her a reputation as a cut-throat, which makes people less trusting of her.

** The highly ambitious Alice is the star, lauded for her willingness to work hard and pursue her dreams, while the lazy and laidback Bob is derided for his refusal to do anything approaching work.

** The villain does acts of villainy out of impulse and for [[ForTheEvulz simple amusement]] and isn't interested in any long term goals. While the hero is very hard working and goal-oriented (possibly showing that the hero is mature and responsible in contrast to the villain).
** ShrinkingViolet Alice is in a position where she could easily [[ToBeLawfulOrGood disrupt up the status quo]] and [[DareToBeBadass actively make the world (or at least her own place in it) a better place]]. Unfortunately, her {{Fatal Flaw}}s are [[TheCynic cynicism]] and [[ExtremeDoormat submissiveness]], so she does nothing and circumstances get ''much'' worse as a result.

* '''Parodied''':
** Alice harbours "wild" dreams of getting a slightly larger office or a more comfortable chair or some other minor thing and goes to ridiculously bizarre and evil lengths to achieve this ambition. So instead of just saving up money for a new chair or waiting until next year where she is up for promotion to senior accountant, she instantly decides that MurderIsTheBestSolution and she must "remove Bob from the picture" in order to take his chair and/or [[KlingonPromotion his position and accompanying office]] for herself. The frequent {{Humiliation Conga}}s she gets from this would seem excessive if she wasn't an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist. Her failure to expand her office (complete with actually getting her office shrunk one time) becomes a RunningGag.
** [[ThoughtCrime Any character who makes thoughts about making something out of themselves]] will result them [[FelonyMisdemeanor to be sentenced to prison]] [[LongerThanLifeSentence for 150 years!]]

* '''Averted''': Alice is ambitious, and no one thinks that's bad.
* '''Enforced''': "We have to make the ambitious co-worker evil, otherwise viewers will be reminded of their own laziness and change the channel because they don't like being reminded that harder workers are doing better than them."

* '''Invoked''': The boss of Alice and Bob's workplace has deliberately set things up so that only the most ruthless people will get to the top. Its all part of the system.
* '''Exploited''': ???

** Because only evil people are allowed to be ambitious, only evil people can obtain positions of power, resulting in a {{dystopia}} that gets worse and worse with every new generation, as [[BeingGoodSucks nobody with any morals]] can make something of themselves.
** Additionally, because only evil people are allowed to be ambitious, ThereAreNoGoodExecutives, resulting in bad products, supernormal prices, and general impoverishment.
** Since only evil people are ambitious, anyone displaying ambition is shot at first sight. Because of this, society remains in a decaying stone age with no developments in technology or culture.
** Believing that all ambition is evil, Bob never attempts to improve his situation believing that he'll lose his friends and loved ones in the process. As a result, he ends up becoming lazy and living a miserable life with very little income, and eventually ends up losing contact with his friends anyways as they all go off to pursue their life dreams.

** Since advancing in society involves compromising your standards, those who don't give up their standards for the sake of ambition consider themselves [[DoomedMoralVictor morally superior]].
** This provides ample opportunity for TheFettered who tempers his ambition with iron morals to become an [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure important political personage]] and pass safety laws to ''force'' the aforementioned executives to test their protects.
** Even if Alice loses her loved ones along the way, it doesn't matter to her as long as she stays alive. However, in her spare time, Alice has made some (or a few) contributions to society to [[PetTheDog make her less immoral than people make her out to be.]]
** Ambition is only evil/dangerous in ''excess'', much like many other important matters in life and those that temper them with perspective, morals and so on, end up doing better in the long run. Those who just have ambition with nothing else end up defeating themselves.

** The villain does acts of villainy out of impulse and for [[ItAmusedMe simple amusement]] and isn't interested in any long term goals. While the hero is very hard working and goal-oriented (possibly showing that the hero is mature and responsible in contrast to the villain).

* '''Straight''': Eva, one of Bob's friends, is very ambitious and is treated like a bad guy for it.

* '''Downplayed''': Eva is very competitive and cares a lot about her grades- which makes her rather unpopular among her classmates.

** It's a CrapsackWorld where in order to get ahead in life, one needs some measure of vision, desire, assertion, ruthlessness and will to power. Eva is just taking it too far.

** Eva shows a callous willingness to step on others without hesitation if it can help her reach her goals faster and she is also unapologetic about this behavior to boot, and as a result has earned her a reputation as a cut-throat, which makes people less trusting of her.

** The highly ambitious Eva is the star, lauded for her willingness to work hard and pursue her dreams, while the lazy and laidback Bob is derided for his refusal to do anything approaching work.

** Eva [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist was originally one of the villains, but left them so she could pursue her own (significantly less evil) goals]].

** [[ShrinkingViolet Eva]] is in a position where she could easily [[ToBeLawfulOrGood disrupt up the status quo]] and [[DareToBeBadass actively make the world (or at least her own place in it) a better place]]. Unfortunately, her {{Fatal Flaw}}s are [[TheCynic cynicism]] and [[ExtremeDoormat submissiveness]], so she does nothing and circumstances get ''much'' worse as a result.

** Characters dislike a company and assume that its CEO, Eva, must be evil. But when they meet her, she is a sweet person with a strict ethical code she lives by.

** ...Only, that's all an act. She turns out to be a StrawHypocrite and a CorruptCorporateExecutive.
** Alternatively, Eva is AffablyEvil. She's still greedy and manipulative, she's just not ''mean''.

** Eva harbours "wild" dreams of getting a slightly larger office or a more comfortable chair or some other minor thing and goes to ridiculously bizarre and evil lengths to achieve this ambition. So instead of just saving up money for a new chair or waiting until next year where she is up for promotion to senior accountant, she instantly decides that MurderIsTheBestSolution and she must "remove Bob from the picture" in order to take his chair and/or [[KlingonPromotion his position and accompanying office]] for herself. The frequent {{Humiliation Conga}}s she gets from this would seem excessive if she wasn't an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist. Her failure to expand her office (complete with actually getting her office shrunk one time) becomes a RunningGag.

* '''Zig Zagged''': Eva starts out as being ambitious, and this is presented as evil as it corrupts her, causing her to do evil things to try to get ahead. However, after getting a few promotions this way, she reforms, using only honest means to advance her career from there on. However, she finds that BeingGoodSucks and is stuck in middle management, and finds her previous deeds are coming back to haunt her. She cracks under the pressure and goes back to evil scheming again.
* '''Averted''': Eva is ambitious, and no one thinks thats bad ''per se''

* '''Invoked''': The boss of Eva and Bob's workplace has deliberately set things up so that only the most ruthless people will get to the top. Its all part of the system.

* '''Defied''': Eva is really determined to get a promotion, but refuses to compromise her morals to get it.
* '''Discussed''': "Keep an eye on that Eva girl. Anyone that eager to get to the top of the pile will do anything to get what they want."

** Even if Eva loses her loved ones along the way, it doesn't matter to her as long as she stays alive. However, in her spare time, Eva has made some (or a few) contributions to society to [[PetTheDog make her less immoral than people make her out to be.]]

* '''Played For Drama:''' As Eva works her way up the ranks, she becomes increasingly ruthless and callous in her treatment of others until she alienates everyone she cared about. She comes to realize that power and position is not everything, and tries to make things right.

* '''Enforced''': "We have to make the ambitious co-worker evil, otherwise [[ViewersAreMorons viewers will be reminded of their own laziness]] and change the channel because they don't like being reminded that harder workers are doing better than them."

** Believing that all ambition is evil, Bob never attempts to improve his situation believing that he'll lose his friends and loved ones in the process. As a result, he ends up becoming lazy and living a miserable life with very little income, and eventually ends up losing contact with his friends anyways as they all go off to purse their life dreams.