Bridal Procession in a Spring Landscape by Ludwig Richter
"It is a distinctly human act to marry. Animals require no contracts or dowries. The hen and the rooster make no vows. Leave it to people to complicate matters with their ceremonies and their cakes. Is it not a wonder that anyone marries at all?"
— Lady Whistledown, Bridgerton
Tropes having to do with that venerable institution. This is for the marriage after the wedding. For tropes dealing with Weddings, see Wedding and Engagement Tropes. For tropes dealing with romance itself, see Love Tropes.
Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today. What happens when the newlyweds come home from the honeymoon and start living with each other. It's simultaneously a milestone, a building block for a family, a way to join two older families, a social institution, a public declaration and a very private affair. Many of these tropes are meant to play out over years; others are about the social clout that married status confers; others are about power and in/equality, such as who holds the purse strings.
Related:
- The Ex Index
- Flirting and Courtship
- Family Tropes
- Infidelity Index
- Love Tropes
- Marriage of Convenience
- Sex Tropes
- Wedding and Engagement Tropes
Tropes
- Accidental Declaration of Love: A moment of confession that may or may not lead to marriage.
- Accidental Marriage: An innocent action results in a character being married.
- Affair Hair: A piece of hair not belonging to a spouse found on one's clothing, which makes their spouse believe they're cheating on them.
- Altar Diplomacy: A marriage set up to form alliances and end feuds.
- Amicable Exes: Former spouses who have remained friends with each other.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Forcing someone to marry you.
- Arranged Marriage: A marriage set up between two people who may or may not love each other, often due to political or financial reasons.
- Authoritative in Public, Docile in Private: Someone with a domineering personality/high rank in society is markedly submissive in family life.
- Awful Wedded Life: An unhappy and dreary marriage.
- Battle Couple: Spouses who battle together.
- Best Friends-in-Law: Best friends become in-laws when one marries the other's relative.
- Breach of Promise of Marriage: A potential marriage is broken off after the man doesn't pay up his end of the bargain.
- Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage: A government or religiously mandated marriage.
- Career Versus Man: A woman must give up her career if she gets married.
- Chastity Couple: A couple abstain from sex and are fine with it.
- Child Marriage Veto: A character refuses an Arranged Marriage set up by their parents.
- Childhood Marriage Promise: Two kids promise to marry each other when they grow up.
- Citizenship Marriage: A character gets married in order to avoid being deported out of the country.
- Coming Out to Spouse: An LGBTQ+ character comes out to their spouse or partner.
- Common Law Marriage: A couple are married in every sense of the word but legal.
- Compete for the Maiden's Hand: Two suitors duel, with the winner getting to marry their love.
- Confirmed Bachelor: A character who foregoes ever getting married.
- Consummation Counterfeit: Blood is placed on the sheets of a couple's bed in order to fool people into believing they consummated their marriage or that the bride was a virgin on her wedding night.
- Converting for Love: You must convert to your lover's religious beliefs before you can marry them.
- Creator Couple: A married couple who work in the media together.
- Crusading Widow: A widow goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against those responsible for their spouse's death.
- Custody Battle: Conflict ensues when a couple gets divorced and can't agree who should get custody of the children.
- A Day in Her Apron: A man tries his hand at doing his wife's housework, but fails miserably.
- Deconfirmed Bachelor: A Confirmed Bachelor meets the right person and changes their mind about being single.
- Divorce Assets Conflict: A divorcing couple demand they split up their possessions between each other, which leads to them going at each other's throats.
- Divorce in Reno: Reno, Nevada is the best place for couples to get divorced.
- Divorce Is Temporary: When a couple gets divorced, it never sticks.
- Divorce Requires Death: One half of a married couple must be put to death if they want to divorce.
- Domestic Abuse: One spouse horribly mistreats the other.
- Double In-Law Marriage: A pair of siblings marries another pair of siblings.
- Dowry Dilemma: The bride's family has trouble putting together the dowry needed for her marriage.
- Exiled to the Couch: A married couple fights, which results in one of them being banished away from the bed.
- Exotic Extended Marriage: Polygamous marriages are the norm in this culture as a way of showing how alien it is.
- Fallback Marriage Pact: Two good friends decide to marry each other if they're still single by a certain age.
- False Widow: A woman lies about being a widow to explain why she has no husband.
- Family Man: A man who's a dedicated husband and father.
- Fidelity Test: A character tests their spouse's faithfulness to them.
- Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Wives act as the voice of reason to their husbands.
- Foot-Dragging Divorcee: A couple is in the process of getting a divorce, but one of them is reluctant to go through with it.
- Forgotten Anniversary: A character forgets their wedding anniversary.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Two people marry shortly after meeting.
- Friendship as Courtship: Two people who knew each other for a long time marry without dating.
- Give Geeks a Chance: A nerd is Happily Married.
- God Couple: Married deities.
- Happily Ever After: The story ends with a happy couple getting married and going off into the sunset.
- Happily Married: A married couple who are happily in love.
- Happy Marriage Charade: A couple who can't get divorced pretends to be Happily Married.
- Henpecked Husband: A man who is dominated by his wife.
- His and Hers: Spouses have matching items labeled as "his" or "hers".
- Historical Relationship Overhaul: Two historical characters are married even though they weren't in Real Life. The opposite may also be true.
- Hot Consort: A ruler has an attractive spouse.
- Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: An attractive man marries an unattractive woman.
- Househusband: A man stays home and cares for the house while the wife works.
- Housewife: The wife who stays home and cares for the house while her husband is the breadwinner.
- In Love with Looks: A character who wants to marry someone because of their looks.
- Insatiable Newlyweds: Once a couple marries, they can't resist getting it on whenever they can.
- Last Wish Marriage: Someone is dying or expects to die shortly, so they say "I do" before they kick the can.
- Lazy Husband: A man who leeches off his wife.
- Love Father, Love Son: Marrying a former crush's offspring.
- Magical Divorce: A marriage is terminated supernaturally.
- Mail-Order Bride: A man "purchases" a wife through an agency.
- Mal Mariée: A young woman is unhappily married to a much older, abusive man, and is often unfaithful to him.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Intermarriage between people of different races and religions are looked on with contempt.
- Marital Rape License: The crime of rape is excused if it happens between spouses.
- Marriage Before Romance: A couple don't fall in love for real until after they're married.
- Marriage to a God: A character devotes themself to a deity as though they were married to them.
- Married Animals: Non-anthropomorphic or minimally anthropomorphic animals are referred to as married.
- Married at Sea: A sea captain legally marries a couple.
- Married in the Future: Child characters are shown to have gotten married as adults.
- Married Too Young: A young couple marries in their teens or twenties, only to later realize that it wasn't the best decision to marry at that age.
- Married to the Job: A character pays more attention to their career than to their spouse.
- Marrying the Mark: Entering a relationship with someone to con or commit a crime against them.
- Marry for Love: Marrying someone out of genuine love rather than for money or status.
- Marry the Nanny: A single parent marries a household employee.
- The Masochism Tango: Spouses who act antagonistic towards each other.
- Metaphorical Marriage: They can't or don't want to get married legally, but consider themselves as good as married and committed for life.
- The Mistress: A woman whom a married man cheats on his wife with.
- My Own Private "I Do": A couple marries before having a big wedding.
- No Accounting for Taste: Two people are married despite really not having much reason to be.
- Nobility Marries Money: Rich people marry other rich people, or at least people whose ancestors were rich.
- "Not Really Married" Plot: A couple finds out that they were never legally married.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: A character is hated and treated like crap by their in-laws.
- Old Man Marrying a Child: A young girl is married off to an older man.
- Oops! I Forgot I Was Married: A character finds out they're in a marriage they were unaware was legal.
- Parental Marriage Veto: A parent is against their child's marriage.
- Parenting the Husband: A marriage where the wife has to mommy the husband.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: The participants in an Arranged Marriage genuinely love each other.
- Quitting to Get Married: A character quits their job when they get married.
- Remarried to the Mistress: A character gets remarried to someone they were having an affair with.
- Remarrying for Your Kids: Getting remarried in order to give your children a parental figure missing from their life.
- Returning the Wedding Ring: If an engagement/wedding ring is returned, that means a marriage is over.
- Robotic Spouse: Building/programming your own spouse.
- Ruling Couple: A married couple who rules over a country together.
- Seduction-Proof Marriage: A marriage where the couple are so faithful to each other that no seducers can steal them away from each other.
- Serial Spouse: A character who has been married more than once.
- Settle for Sibling: Marrying an unrequited crush's sibling.
- Sexless Marriage: A marriage where the couple don't have any sex, usually due to problems in the marriage or Incompatible Orientation.
- Shipping Bed Death: A couple being married causes fans to lose interest in them as a couple.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: A Happily Married couple who are in love to a Sickeningly Sweet level.
- Sleeping Single: A married couple is depicted sleeping in separate beds rather than in the same one.
- Smithical Marriage: A couple checks into a hotel posing as a married couple.
- Spy's Suspicious Spouse: A spy's civilian partner becomes suspicious of them.
- Starter Marriage: A first marriage that doesn't last for very long.
- Stepping Stone Spouse: A partner sacrifices for their spouse only to be left behind when fortunes increase.
- Suddenly Suitable Suitor: A person of nobility/royalty's commoner Love Interest is revealed to be of royal background, thus making them suitable to marry them.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: A character plots to murder their spouse.
- Toilet Seat Divorce: A couple gets divorced over something minuscule.
- Took the Wife's Name: For a significant reason, a husband takes the surname of his wife instead of the other way around.
- Top Wife: The favorite wife of a man in a polygamous marriage.
- Trophy Wife: A spouse who is mostly there to make someone look good.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: An attractive woman marries an unattractive man.
- Unable to Support a Wife: A man can't afford to get married and care for a wife.
- Unholy Matrimony: A villainous married couple.
- Unwanted Spouse: A character is married to someone that they'd rather not be married to.
- Wedding Ring Defense: Wearing a wedding ring to fool people into thinking that you're married, often to shoo away unwanted suitors.
- Wedding Ring Removal: A character takes off their wedding ring before they cheat on their spouse.
- Wedlock Block: A couple can't marry because another couple is required to marry before them.
- Wet Blanket Wife: The wife who nags her husband to not endanger himself too much and to think about his family.
- Why Don't You Marry It?: Character mocking another character liking something too much.
- Yoko Oh No: A celebrity's spouse is the target of hatred from said celebrity's fanbase.
- You Have Waited Long Enough: A character is forced to marry someone else when the one they love doesn't come right back to them.
