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| - Adultery in fiction is very much a mixed bag. Sometimes you have good adulterers; sometimes you have bad adulterers. Those you see as 'just messing up' and can be sympathised with, and those who are genuine Jerkasses and deserve to be caught and humiliated in front of a large crowd. On a superficial level, in fact, the distinction between good adulterers and bad can be entirely arbitrary. Most good writing, however, takes clarity and nuance into account. Adultery, good or bad, is Not to Be Confused With open relationships where the partners are honest with each other and not in an abusive way.
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| abstract
| - Adultery in fiction is very much a mixed bag. Sometimes you have good adulterers; sometimes you have bad adulterers. Those you see as 'just messing up' and can be sympathised with, and those who are genuine Jerkasses and deserve to be caught and humiliated in front of a large crowd. On a superficial level, in fact, the distinction between good adulterers and bad can be entirely arbitrary. Most good writing, however, takes clarity and nuance into account. Adultery, good or bad, is Not to Be Confused With open relationships where the partners are honest with each other and not in an abusive way.
* The adulterer is the protagonist.
* Their partner is physically and/or emotionally abusive, to the point that they may well kill a partner whom they discover is cheating. Or even just for the insurance money.
* The relationship being "ruined" is quite literally loveless. The cheater was forced into the arrangement, either against their will, or as a guarantee to keep something terrible from happening to a loved one.
* For the sake of the One True Pairing. Especially obvious if the adulterer and the adulteree are both long-term characters, but the individual being cheated on is only in the show at all because they are married to one of the adulterers.
* A couple still love each other but they are going through a rough spot, or they are 'on a break'. However the original relationship is not over over, so it's still portrayed as a kind of infidelity. Obviously this has a tendency to make the situation worse. Loneliness is often a huge factor in the cheater's motivations.
* The cheating is with a member of the same sex.
* The person being cheated upon is the protagonist.
* Sheer shallowness. Rather than giving any actual reason for an affair, they just do it because it feels good.
* In spite of the fact that they're cheating, they have no moral compunction about manipulating their partner for their own ends.
* Plain old dishonesty. Oftentimes, if a character is involved in an open relationship or is simply dating casually, having multiple partners isn't really a big deal. What really sets off the person being cheated on, though, is being lied to. Claiming to have an exclusive relationship, while actually not, is a guaranteed Berserk Button if the scorned lover finds out.
* When the cheated-upon character is dealing with heavy stress brought about because of the marriage, and the affair further aggravates it.
* The cheating in general is meant to provoke discomfort in the form of sexual jealousy in the audience -- see Netorare Genre. See also The Unfair Sex, where the distinction seems to fall across the Gender line (but may also use the above to justify it). A lot of this probably stems from the fact that adultery in Real Life is complex and difficult; while people cheat for many reasons (some understandable and sympathetic, others less so), it's still considered a betrayal of the other partner in the relationship. In fiction, however, the adulterer is often treated as either Good or Bad -- there's rarely much grey in-between. Examples of Good Adultery, Bad Adultery include:
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