Basic Trope: A character shows remorse for their actions, although the act itself was justified.
- Straight: Alice feels guilty for slapping Bob for being a Jerkass to the other teammates.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice breaks down into tears for giving Bob a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for assaulting the other teammates just for fun.
- Dirty Business.
- Alas, Poor Villain.
- Downplayed:
- Alice feels a little guilt in her for bluntly calling out Bob for being lazy and selfish.
- Alice does feel guilt about punishing Bob but won’t apologize to Bob for it.
- Justified:
- Bob was so hurt by Alice's actions, he nearly quits the team.
- Alice likes being nice to everyone she meets, and being harsh on others justified or not goes against her kindhearted nature.
- Alice knows that Bob isn't all that bad of a guy, and slapping him was a bit out of proportion.
- Alice thought that there has to be a more gentle solution in admonishing Bob.
- Alice was congratulated by Charlie the Jerkass, giving Alice no joy on what she did.
- Inverted:
- Alice feels that she was too soft on Bob when forgiving him for his rude behavior.
- Alice feels satisfied when Bob is punished for a crime, although the punishment was over the top.
- Alice feels stupid after rewarding Bob with $12000 for rescuing a kitten from a tree.
- Subverted:
- Alice initially felt guilty for slapping Bob, but then realizes that he will use her sympathy as an excuse to repeat the same act, so she continues to antagonize him until he finally realizes his wrongs...
- Alice is told by Charlie that she doesn't have to feel bad for slapping a jerk like Bob, so she feels relieved.
- Charlie tells Alice that he isn't hard enough on Bob's jerkassery, so Alice believes him and continues to give Bob the cold shoulder.
- It wasn't remorse, but more of a fear that Bob would retaliate.
- Alice feels guilty for slapping Bob for being a Jerkass to the other teammates… And then ignores that epiphany.
- Double Subverted:
- ...While becoming even more remorseful for expressing her justified meanness.
- ...But she realizes that Charlie was more of a jerk than Bob is, and Alice thought his comments were unsettling.
- Parodied: Alice severely chastises Bob for listening to gangsta rap music, leading Bob to cry a river of tears. Because of this, Alice cries a river of tears along with him.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice doesn't show any soft feelings for correcting Bob's behavior.
- Enforced: The writer wants to make a point that while doing the right thing isn't the nice thing, it can hurt us more than the other.
- Lampshaded:Charlie: "Let me guess: you're gonna ask me if you were too hard on Bob?"
- Invoked: Alice asks Charlie to aid him on keeping Bob in line and if she gets too harsh with him, then it's up to Charlie to call her out.
- Exploited: Bob pretends to be extremely thin skinned, so that Alice will not down punishments for future infractions.
- Defied:
- Tough Love
- Alice hides her soft feelings and knew that getting physical with Bob was the right thing.
- As much as she hates to admit, she knows Bob will never forgive her, and decides not to show remorse for it.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: A few seconds after Alice slaps Bob, Alice’s expression seems a bit dejected.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice's sympathy towards Bob results her in being Stupid Good, and this causes the team to turn their backs on her, leaving her to fend for herself in times of adversity for having soft feelings.
- Alice feels remorseful for how she dealt with Bob, but it's even worse when Bob has shut off the friends and has gone on his own, hoping he will never be called out of his mistakes again.
- Alice feels remorseful because of Bob's actions - she's in an emotionally abusive relationship with Bob, romantic or not.
- Bob refuses Alice's apology and decides that if he's going to be evil, then so be it.
- Alice really was too hard on Bob, and the other teammates are disgusted with her for her cruelty.
- Played For Drama: Alice is very harsh with Bob for being a jerk to everyone and tells him to get his act together or drop dead. Bob angrily storms off, and events later, Alice hears that Bob was tragically killed, and is suddenly stricken with remorse over what she said and never got the chance to apologize to him.
You should be ashamed for looking at this page! Get back to the main page, you jerk! Wait, that sounded harsh. I'm sorry. Wait! Don't go! I didn't mean to act like that! Please, come back!
