Basic Trope: A character who's passive and easily manipulated.
- Straight: Alice is quiet and obedient to the point of being a pushover.
- Exaggerated: Alice would gladly jump off a cliff if someone told her to.
- Downplayed:
- Alice folds quicker than most.
- While Alice sometimes tries to worm her way out of unreasonable demands, she never outright refuses.
- Justified:
- Alice is a robot programmed to obey orders.
- Alice has endured numerous events in her life that convinced her that standing up for yourself will only make things worse, so she makes no attempt to resist.
- Alice was abused throughout her life, and as a result, she's desperate to please anyone and everyone in order to avoid getting hurt or punished.
- Alice hates herself, but blindly respects others.
- Alice is bottling up her emotions.
- Alice attempts to avoid feeling guilty for standing her ground.
- Inverted:
- Alice is a Hot-Blooded Determinator.
- Alice is an Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
- Alice is a Commander Contrarian.
- Subverted:
- Alice acts like a doormat at first, but then when she's given a command she doesn't want to obey, she refuses.
- Alice would not be a doormat of her own accord (that is, she has thoughts and opinions), but her training/upbringing causes her to believe that she should be a doormat, and try and stifle her emotions.
- Alice Grew a Spine.
- Alice will say whatever she thinks someone wants to hear, but it's just because she's too lazy to argue. Trying to bully her into doing something is useless; all you'll get is excuses and/or empty promises.
- Double Subverted:
- When the commander gets mad at her, Alice apologizes profusely and obeys.
- Alice gradually got used to acting like a doormat.
- Parodied: Alice is literally a sapient doormat.
- Zig Zagged: Alice is very much an Extreme Doormat, but when she's ordered to do something she doesn't want to do, she refuses. The commander then threatens to beat her, so she timidly agrees to carry out the order. But when it looks like she's going off to fulfill the deed, she runs away.
- Averted: Alice knows when to stand up for herself.
- Enforced: "People will think it's awkward if we just made her as hot-blooded and headstrong as in the original story ... so maybe they'll love it if we go in the other direction!"
- Lampshaded:
- "She might as well have 'welcome' tattooed on her forehead, that Alice."
- "Alice, you need to learn to think for yourself!" "If you insist... um... what should I be thinking about?"
- Invoked:
- "Maybe if I'm really nice, I can get the information I need."
- "Don't you dare stand up to me! If you do that, then you're a very bad person who would make every murderer look like a saint, and you will be arrested and put to jail with no chance of escaping. Or I'll just beat you until you can't take it anymore! Is that what you really want, Alice? If I were you, I'd shut my fucking mouth, suck it up, and do what I'm told!"
- Exploited: Bob is aware that Alice has a passive personality, so he takes advantage of her to do whatever he says.
- Defied:
- A Good Is Not Soft character who is submissive, yet only when it comes to things that align with their principles. Anyone trying to step over said principles invariably find they aren't passive when it comes to defending them.
- "What, you think I'll just do whatever you tell me to? Dream on."
- Discussed:
- "If she just lets anyone treat her like that, she's going to get hurt."
- "The last girl I dated, you ask? ... Sweet as could be, but she never stood up for herself ..."
- Conversed: "If I were in Alice's shoes, then whoever even thinks about bossing me around has just got themselves a knuckle sandwich for free."
- Deconstructed:
- Alice is sick of constantly being walked all over, and eventually snaps.
- Alice has crippling self-esteem issues and constantly helps others in order to feel useful. She ends up taking up too many tasks, letting everyone down. She is wracked with so much guilt that she eventually takes her own life.
- A narcissist may spot Alice, realize how much of a doormat she is, and he/she sees Alice as a perfect target for the narcissist to exploit. Alice realizes her mistake of being too passive, so she vows to stand up for herself and not become a doormat again.
- Bob's current state is the result of him being a hateful monster to Alice. He pushed her buttons too often and too far, and she in turn snapped and proceeded to absolutely brutalize him in return. His breaking was so thorough that he's been reduced to a shell of the person he used to be, being a subservient bootlicker who's desperate not to displease Alice in fear of her wrath.
- Reconstructed:
- Instead of snapping, Alice goes through Character Development and becomes less of a doormat.
- Alternately, Alice enjoys being a slave. Except on Mondays, which is normal.
- Even though Alice has vowed to not be a doormat again, old habits are hard to break, particularly when crippling self-esteem issues are the issue in question. It's an uphill battle to gain a spine.
- Played For Drama: Alice has no respect for herself, and thus is easily taken advantage of and often endures abusive relationships.
- Played For Laughs: Alice's submissive behavior is used for justify her Butt-Monkey Status in Slapstick jokes.
Back to Extreme Doormat, if you please...I'll shut up now...
