Basic Trope: A character suspects his/her partner is cheating (or might cheat), and seeks proof by testing his/her partner.
- Straight: Alice suspects Bob of cheating on her, so she disguises herself as an exceptionally beautiful flirtatious woman and heads to the bar where he likes to drink.
- Exaggerated: Alice does everything she can to seduce Bob while there.
- Downplayed: Alice disguises herself as The Vamp and walks past Bob in the street to see if he'd make a move.
- Justified:
- Alice needs proof of Bob's infidelity before she can accuse him of it or dump him for it. Because she's just that
Lawful Good. - Bob really is cheating, and Alice knows it. She wants to catch him in the act and give him a Humiliation Conga he'll never forget.
- Alternatively, the work is set in an era before the advent of no-fault divorce, so in order to obtain a means of breaking up with her cheating spouse, Alice HAS to prove he's cheating.
- Alice needs proof of Bob's infidelity before she can accuse him of it or dump him for it. Because she's just that
- Inverted: Bob tests Alice's trust (or lack thereof) of him by making her believe he is straying.
- Subverted:
- Alice meets Bob at a costume party, wanting to see if he recognizes her.
- Alice never wanted to test Bob's fidelity, she just wanted to set up a Two-Person Love Triangle.
- Double Subverted: Since Bob doesn't expect Alice to be there (for some reason), and Alice knows this, she gets it into her head to see how Bob behaves when she's not around.
- Parodied:
- Alice goes to the bar wearing Vapor Wear as part of her disguise and does everything she can think of to seduce Bob.
- In an attempt to get proof of Bob's infidelity, she disguises herself as an exceptionally beautiful woman and goes to the bar he visits to seduce him. She accidentally manages to seduce everyone in the bar except Bob, who merely compliments her on her disguise.
- Bob recognizes Alice, then starts wondering what she was doing at the bar in disguise and becomes suspicious of her.
- (Continued from Subverted) Bob falls in love with Alice's persona, but then gets suspicious that she is cheating. He then creates an alias of his own, and seduces her. This keeps repeating on and on.
- Alice's "test" consist in a hilariously elaborate and unnecessarily cruel Death Trap that would make Jigsaw green with envy.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Bob goes to Carl's Bad Tavern with his drinking buddies. Alice simply tells him to have a good time, trusting fully that he'll be faithful, and plops herself down in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn and a DVD of some Chick Flick.
- Enforced: Alice is a jealous Tsundere, and the author wants to show that.
- Lampshaded: "You were tricking me all along? This was some kind of test? And I'm the one being accused of dishonesty?"
- Invoked: Alice mentions that "Bob is acting strangely" over tea with her friend Carol one day. Carol suggests testing him to make sure he isn't cheating.
- Exploited: Bob passes the test, and catches Alice trying to trap him. He guilts her so hard over her false accusation, lack of trust, and manipulative, underhanded, scheme that she makes up her mind to never accuse or suspect him again – which leaves Bob free to do all the skirt-chasing he wants without fear of reprisal.
- Defied:
- Alice trusts Bob, and has no reason not to, so she lets him do whatever he wants.
- Or, she is jealous, but does not test Bob because she doesn't want him to think she's a bitch and leave her.
- Discussed: "Would you like to test his fidelity? Disguise yourself as a..." "NO."
- Conversed: "I still can't grasp it how anyone can fall for it! I mean, the voice, the manner – it's all there!"
- Deconstructed:
- Alice does this because she's jealous and insecure, even though Bob is not acting suspiciously.
- The fact that Alice has to go to such extremes to satisfy her paranoia is an indication that even if Bob is not cheating, there are significant issues of trust, honesty and openness in their relationship on both sides that are poisoning the relationship and have to be addressed.
- Reconstructed: Alice learns that Bob is loyal to her, and that she has nothing to worry about, and learns to control her jealousy.
- Played For Laughs:
- Alice's disguise is flimsy, at best, and Bob calls her out on it.
- Alice sends her friends to seduce Bob, but they all end up falling for him for real. They assure Alice that Bob is not cheating, but ask her to send them again "just in case".
- Played For Drama:
- Alice (while disguised) either tries to seduce Bob and he takes the bait, or she witnesses him get seduced by some other woman at the bar.
- Bob sees through Alice's disguise but lets her seduce anyway to make it clear that he is cheating on her and proud of it.
- Implied: Alice somehow learns Bob hit on a blond woman at a party. There seems to be a blond wig in the background of Alice's room for some reason.
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