Foot-Dragging Divorcee/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: One half of a couple wants a divorce; the other is reluctant to go through with it.
  • Played Straight: Alice wants a divorce from Bob, but Bob procrastinates about signing the papers.
  • Exaggerated: Bob flat out refuses to sign the papers.
  • Justified:
    • Bob still has feelings for Alice, and/or wants to try and see if they can go through marriage counseling and "make it work."
    • Bob doesn't believe in divorce.
  • Inverted:
    • Alice wants Bob to propose marriage to her, but Bob is (for whatever reason(s)) dragging his feet about it.
    • Alternatively, Alice plops divorce papers on Bob's desk, and Bob signs them right away.
  • Subverted:
    • The deadline is fast approaching, and though the papers are unsigned, it's because Bob has been busy and forgot about them.
    • Or, Bob confronts Alice, and they agree that instead of divorcing, they will try couples' counseling first.
    • Or, Bob signs the papers right away.
  • Double Subverted: It turns out Bob still has feelings for Alice, and has been using "being swamped with work" as an excuse for avoiding the issue.
  • Deconstructed: See "Double Subverted".
  • Reconstructed: Alice and Bob talk about their issues, and either reconsider the divorce (and work through their problems), or agree that it's better to just end it.
  • Parodied: "No, you sign the papers first!"
  • Lampshaded: "I need him to sign those Goddamned, fucking papers! Otherwise, Charles and I can't get married!"
  • Averted: Alice and Bob are Happily Married, or at least not getting a divorce.
  • Enforced: "We need to segue into a drawn-out romance arc, with an Alice-Bob-Charles Love Triangle."
  • Invoked: Alice gets involved with Charles, but she wants to get her Lazy Husband Bob out of the way.
  • Defied:
    • Bob signs the papers right away, because he wants the divorce as badly as Alice does.
    • Alice and Bob agree to try counseling before getting a divorce.
  • Discussed: "Bob's not going to sign those divorce papers."
  • Conversed: "Ever notice how on TV, the guys are slow to get into a marriage, and even slower to get out of one, than the girls are? What's up with that?"
  • Played For Laughs: See "Parodied"
  • Played For Drama: Almost always is.
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