History Characters / MadMenTheMainCharacters

* TookALevelInJerkass: At the beginning of the show he was one of the nicest guys in the office, but after his Television department takes off at SCDP, he starts to suffer from a massively inflated ego, not to mention becoming far more overtly sexist. By series' end, seemingly every major character openly loathes him.

* CanadaEh: She's French-Canadian from Montreal. Her nationality is alluded to/joked about a few times, though language lessons have hidden her accent.

* WomenAreWiser: Played with when she was married to Don, where she was the child and he was the adult, but he'd cheat on her; [[AvertedTrope averted]] in her marriage to Henry.

• SignificantWardrobeShift: Don sticks to his late 50s/early 60s fashion for the majority of the show, but finally embraces the times in the final half of Season 7. His suits become more emblematic of the 1970s with wider lapels, bigger ties, and colored shirts.

* AwfullyWeddedLife: Harry certainly feels this way in later seasons. Frequently discussing how miserable his home life is, how greedy his children are and how his wife is holding off divorce proceedings until Harry gets a partnership stake. Though given that his wife and family aren't seen in later seasons, and we only have Harry's word for it, it's entirely possible Harry is exaggerating because of how horrible a person he is.

* StandardFiftiesFather: Taken apart at the seams. Him being married with kids is a FirstEpisodeTwist after he's already established as a womanizer, and he understands clients a whole lot better than his family. In Season 4, Don makes the rather poignant admission that he's uncomfortable around his kids, but still misses them when they're not visiting.

* DiscoDan: A realistic version. Not as bad as Don, but she carries on the early 1960s Cocktail Bombshell look well into 1967, she eventually updates her look to look hipper but retains that Pinup model look well into 1970. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that she is a woman who looks to TheFifties as her best decade, where she came of age and developed a style that suited her body.

* HeroesWantRedheads: Men want her, but this is played with because Men don't know how to treat her like a full human individual rather than a sex object. As the series goes on, she is a RedheadedHero as the second-pioneering woman in the ad business.

* ImmigrantPatriotism: Lane ''loves'' living in America and being a New Yorker. He makes an effort to pick up some American habits and decks out his office in New York-related tchotchkes -- including a [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} Mets]] pennant (the Mets, like Lane, were new in the Big Apple, having been established in 1962). That said, he's still a proud Brit, defending Jaguar and cheering England in the 1966 World Cup.

* OldMaid: Part of her story. In Season 2, Joan gets humiliated when Paul Kinsey copied her driver's license and highlighted her birthdate and stuck it on the breakroom board, revealing that she's 31 and single. She gets engaged to her {{Jerkass}} fiancé and goes through with the wedding even afer [[spoiler:he raped her]], and later after getting divorced, Bob Benson chides her for not accepting his [[TheBeard proposal of marriage]] due to her approaching the age of 40 with a young son and a mother in an apartment; she refuses since she is more willing to marry again for love.

* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: How ''will'' people who've heard [[Series/{{Degrassi}} Zig Novak's]] [[CringeComedy rendition]] [[HotForTeacher of]] Zou Bisou Bisou before hers react to her version...

* DoesNotLikeShoes: And extended to others; removing your shoes in his office is a must. To the point where several employees who sneak into his office to look at the artwork on the walls wonder if they should take their shoes off, even though Bert's not there.

* RatedMForManly: The epitome of suave masculinity in and out-universe and also a deconstruction, he's a pretty damaged individual below the smooth surface.

-->Lane: ''"I can't believe the hours I've invested into helping you become the monster you've become."''

* MadonnaWhoreComplex: This seems to be Don's worldview. He seeks prim and proper women, like Betty, to settle down with, but constantly engages in extramarital affairs with sexually aggressive women. This is most obvious with Don's third wife, Megan. Don marries her after seeing how good she is with his kids, but is extremely upset when she displays any hints of sexuality outside of his control, such as singing a sexy French song at Don's 40th birthday party or when she does a kissing scene for her role on a TV Soap Opera.

* UnfortunateNames: Dick isn't a terribly unfortunate name in and of itself, but add Whitman to the end and you easily come to Dick Whit. His mother died in childbirth and her last words were, "I'll cut his dick off."

* YoureNotMyMother: He's not shown saying this directly to her, but he refuses to acknowledge Abigail as his mother, [[WickedStepmother no doubt because she never treated him like a son either]]. In addition, when Adam is born, he refuses to acknowledge him as his brother.

* BerserkButton: Do not expect Roger to [[YellowPeril react rationally around the Japanese]]; he's still angry with them over Pearl Harbor.

** In Season 2, after a season of tension between him and Trudy for failing to conceive a baby, he confesses his feelings for Peggy, telling her he should have gotten with her instead. Peggy replies that she has renounced to guilt him into being with her when she had his child. The reveal [[ShipSinking sinks their ship]] for good.

* BadassBaritone: He has a deep baritone voice that suits his [[TallDarkAndHandsome appearance]] and [[TheCharmer personality]] perfectly.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Two major ones in the first season. First, when Don and Roger try to fire Pete Campbell Bert blocks them and explains how Pete's family is wealthy and connected so tarnishing the company's reputation with them by firing their golden boy would be a bad business move. The second time is at the end of the season when Pete brings him the truth about Don's past and Bert's ArmorPiercingResponse: "Who cares?". Bert Cooper might come across as just an EccentricMillionaire but he is actually an incredibly clever businessman who knows exactly how to maneuver his employees to keep everything afloat and to instill undying loyalty.

* MsFanservice: She usually wears form-fitting clothing with intent to be admired.