History WesternAnimation / CorpseBride

* AnAesop:
** The truest acts of love are those fueled by making others happy. All three protagonists make decisions for one of the others' sakes, even if it isn't an easy choice.
** Don't give up on a good opportunity just because it's hard to achieve. Victor almost ruins his chances with Victoria twice because he doesn't face the problem.

* EvilIsPetty: Even after realizing that Victoria's parents are penniless and she's been wed to him with no dowry, Barkis refuses to let her return to Victor in the end, clinging to the fact that she's legally his wife just to ensure he has ''something'' to walk away with.

* JawDrop: [[VisualPun Done literally]] with a skeleton after the revelation of Barkis' history with Emily.

* AristocratsAreEvil: Subverted with Victoria, who's actually quite sweet. Zigzagged by her parents, who are selfish and rude but seem just like bog-standard Victorian aristocrats. Lord Barkis takes this trope to nasty extremes.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Done twice by Victor. The first time, after he's told by Mayhew, who recently died from complications of his smoking adiction and being run over by the carriage that carried Mr. and Mrs. Van Dorth, that Emily was married off to Lord Barkis, he overhears Emily talking to Elder Gutkneck, the Maggot, and the Black Widow spider that the only way she could marry Victor is if Victor dies. Victor seeing that he can't be with Victoria, agrees to perform the ritual so that he and Emily can get married, and the wedding procession heads to the Land of the Living for the nuptials. The second time happens at the church, after he's [[spoiler: disarmed by Barkis after losing the sword fight, Victor merely flinches as he prepares himself to get stabbed by Barkis]]. Luckily, Emily [[spoiler: stands in between them and takes the sword that Barkis embedded in her abdomen and sternly order him to "GetOut"]].

* DoubleStandard: Emily holds Victor to his AccidentalMarriage, drags him off to the afterlife, and refuses to let him return to the woman he's already engaged to, yet she's never framed unsympathetically by the movie's tone or its other characters. Yet when Barkis holds Victoria to their marriage vows and refuses to let her be with Victor out of spite, it's perceived as villainous and reprehensible by the onlookers. Downplayed, in that Victor's desire to get back to Victoria is shown as sympathetic by the movie and that Emily, whilst also sympathetic, needs to let him go as he still has a life to live with the one he really loves. [[spoiler: By doing so this is ultimately how she finds peace]].
* DoWithHimAsYouWill: Elder Gutknecht initially holds the dead back from punishing [[spoiler: Barkis]] for his crimes, reminding them of their inability to harm the living. That is until [[spoiler: Barkis downs a goblet of wine that, unbeknownst to him, was spiked with poison.]] Elder Gutknecht's reaction? "He's all yours."

* FaceDeathWithDespair: At the very end, [[spoiler: a variation is seen since Barkis had just died]]. Once [[spoiler: Barkis is defeated, [[KnowWhentoFoldEm and decides to walk away from Victoria and try his luck elsewhere]], the Residents of the Land of the Dead want to punish him [[TheBlueBeard for what he did to Emily]] and [[IShallTauntYou the sarcastic wedding toast he delivers]], but elder Gutkneck says they can't as they're in the land of the living. When Barkis [[SmugSnake smugly drinks the poison wine meant for Victor]] he tries to calmly walk out out the church, but dies soon after, meaning that the rules for the Dead apply to him as well, and Gutneck states "[[DoWithHimAsYouWill he's all yours]]." As the Residents of the Land of the Dead slowly approach him, Barkis lets out a panicked scream and desperately tries to escape, but is instead dragged off to a [[FateWorseThanDeath gruesome faith]]]].

-->'''Little girl:''' Grandpa?

* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage:
** Victor and Victoria. Originally it's an arranged marriage for social purposes, and both of them are shown to be apprehensive about meeting their betrothed, but they both fall for one another when they meet for the first time without their parents around.
** Played with in regards to Victoria's parents. Although they don't actually like each other, they seem perfectly content with the state of their marriage as it is and get along very well because they both regard their marriage as a business partnership rather than having anything to do with love.

* ActorAllusion: Emily recites Ophelia's "That's rosemary, for remembrance..." speech from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' while holding a bouquet of flowers after Victor rejects her. Emily is voiced by Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, who played Ophelia 15 years earlier in Creator/FrancoZeffirelli's 1990 film of the play.

* ParentalBonus: When Victor is in the woods, practicing his vows, he says a line to the effect of "With this hand, I will cup your...", with his hands placed near his chest area. Once he realizes what he's doing, he pulls his hands away in shock. "Oh ''goodness'', no."

* PoorCommunicationKills: A lot of grief might have been avoided by Victor explaining from the beginning that the vows he made to Emily were a mistake. Instead, he tries to lead her along as a way of getting back to the land of the living, only coming clean after she finds him with Victoria and is thus too upset to see his line of thought.