Fidelity Test/Playing With

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Basic Trope: Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A character suspects his/her partner is cheating (or might cheat), and seeks proof by testing his/her partner.

• Played Straight: Alice suspects Bob of cheating on her, so she disguises herself as an exceptionally beautiful flirtatious woman and heads to the bar where he likes to drink.
• Exaggerated: Alice does everything she can to seduce Bob while there.
• Justified:
  • Alice needs proof of Bob's infidelity before she can accuse him of it or dump him for it. Because she's just that Lawful Good.
  • Bob really is cheating, and Alice knows it. She wants to catch him in the act and give him a Humiliation Conga he'll never forget.
  • Alternatively, the work is set in an era before the advent of no-fault divorce, so in order to obtain a means of breaking up with her cheating spouse, Alice HAS to prove he's cheating.
• Inverted: Bob tests Alice's trust (or lack thereof) of him by making her believe he is straying.
• Subverted: Alice meets Bob at a costume party, wanting to see if he recognizes her.
• Double Subverted: Since Bob doesn't expect Alice to be there (for some reason), and Alice knows this, she gets it into her head to see how Bob behaves when she's not around.
• Parodied:
  • Alice goes to the bar wearing Vapor Wear as part of her disguise and does everything she can think of to seduce Bob.
  • In an attempt to get proof of Bob's infidelity, she disguises herself as an exceptionally beautiful woman and goes to the bar he visits to seduce him. She accidentally manages to seduce everyone in the bar except Bob, who merely complements her on her disguise.
  • Bob recognizes Alice, then starts wondering what she was doing at the bar in disguise and becomes suspicious of her.
• Deconstructed:
  • Alice does this because she's jealous and insecure, even though Bob is not acting suspiciously.
  • The fact that Alice has to go to such extremes to satisfy her paranoia is an indication that even if Bob is not cheating, there are significant issues of trust, honesty and openness in their relationship on both sides that are poisoning the relationship and have to be addressed.
• Reconstructed: Alice learns that Bob is loyal to her, and that she has nothing to worry about, and learns to control her jealousy.
• Zig Zagged: ???
• Averted: Bob goes to Carl's Bad Tavern with his drinking buddies. Alice simply tells him to have a good time, trusting fully that he'll be faithful, and plops herself down in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn and a DVD of some Chick Flick.
• Enforced: Alice is a jealous Tsundere, and the author wants to show that.
• Lampshaded: "You were tricking me all along? This was some kind of test? And I'm the one being accused of dishonesty?"
• Invoked: Alice mentions that "Bob is acting strangely" over tea with her friend Carol one day. Carol suggests testing him to make sure he isn't cheating.
• Defied:
  • Alice trusts Bob, and has no reason not to, so she lets him do whatever he wants.
  • Or, she is jealous, but does not test Bob because she doesn't want him to think she's a bitch and leave her.
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed: ???
• Played For Laughs: Alice's disguise is flimsy, at best, and Bob calls her out on it.
• Played For Drama: Alice (while disguised) either tries to seduce Bob and he takes the bait, or she witnesses him get seduced by some other woman at the bar.

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