Basic Trope: Someone confesses to something they weren't being asked to confess to.
- Straight: Alice steals a doughnut and then copies Bob's story he wrote. When Bob says, "Whoever did it, and I think you know what I'm talking about, had better confess," Alice says, "I admit it! I copied your story! I promise I'll give you all the credit!", Bob says, "What? You copied my story?! I was talking about the doughnut.
- Exaggerated: Alice is a bit of a shady character who has committed several crimes in her life. She confesses to all of them, while Bob was just talking about the doughnut.
- Downplayed: Alice confesses for both the right and the wrong things.
- Justified: Alice felt more guilty about the plagiarism, so it was on her mind more.
- Inverted: Alice denies copying Bob's report when really he was talking about the doughnut.
- Subverted:
- Double Subverted:
- Parodied:
- Zigzagged:
- Averted: Alice does not confess to anything unless someone was specific.
- Enforced:
- Lampshaded: "Whoops...that's the trouble with having more than one thing to confess to—you never know which one you need to confess to at the moment!"
- Invoked:
- Exploited:
- Defied: Alice makes a point of never confessing to anything.
- Discussed: "So I did two bad things—I'm not telling you what they are, they're not that bad anyway...but what if someone asks me to confess without being specific, how do I avoid confessing to the wrong one?"
- Conversed: "That Alice is in trouble. Bob didn't even know that someone copied his story and now she's spilled the beans."
- Implied: Bob asks indirectly who stole the doughnut, and then Alice is seen getting in trouble for plagiarism.
- Deconstructed: Bob decides not to be Alice's friend anymore.
- Reconstructed: He believes in Turning The Other Cheek, and after all, Alice did tell the truth.
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama:
Back to Mistaken Confession.
