Prenup Blowup/Playing With

Basic Trope: One half of a couple asks the other to sign a prenuptial agreement, upsetting their partner by implying a lack of trust.

• Straight: Charles and Darcy are engaged. Charles asks Darcy to sign a prenuptial agreement. Darcy, outraged, accuses him of not trusting her and threatens to break off the engagement.
• Exaggerated: When Charles proposes to Darcy, he presents her with a ring and a prenup, in hopes of getting it all out of the way in one go.
• Justified: Charles is much richer than Darcy, and/or he's concerned that she might be a Gold Digger.
• Inverted: Darcy and Charles have a smooth and drama-free divorce due to the prenup they signed before being wed.
• Subverted: When Charles presents Darcy with the prenup, she signs it without a fuss.
• Double Subverted: Charles gives Darcy the prenup, she signs it... and then gets upset afterwards, as the thought that he might not trust her sinks in...
• Parodied: Charles has prenups for anyone he's dating.
• Deconstructed: The presentation of prenups as something "evil" and "a sign your partner doesn't trust you!" by the media leads to unneeded stress in Charles and Darcy's relationship, as Charles is torn between wanting the protection "just in case" and not wanting to lose Darcy over something he hopefully wouldn't even need.
• Reconstructed: Howard Stern recommends prenups on a segment of his show, which Charles listens to, and it gives Charles the confidence to ask for one. Darcy considers this shallow and calls off the marriage.
• Zig Zagged: Charles introduces the prenup expecting Darcy to be upset, but she agrees to sign it without a fuss. However, when she tells her friends about it later, they decry it as unromantic and a sign that he doesn't trust her. Charles, meanwhile, wavers back and forth between viewing it as a logical extra bit of insurance and a potential deal-breaker. They argue about it, then Darcy changes her mind and goes to apologize, only for Charles to offer to null the prenup and simply trust her.
• Averted: Charles never brings up the idea of a prenup, or it's handled offscreen without any drama whatsoever.
• Enforced: "We need a way to break up Charles and Darcy and mantain the status quo, so let's have Charles pressure her for a prenup!"
• Lampshaded: "Women seem to think prenups take all the romance out of marriage!"
• Invoked: Charles' best buddy Dick hates Darcy and doesn't want his bro marrying her, so Dick convinces Charles to ask her for a prenup in hopes it'll break them up.
• Defied: Charles' best buddy Richard thinks that Darcy and Charles make the perfect couple and convinces him to not ask Darcy for a prenup, assuming she would take it the wrong way.
• Discussed: "Charles, don't ask her for a prenup. She will explode."
• Conversed: "So, ever notice how nobody in TV-Land is able to handle the very reasonable subject of possible divorce without throwing a fit?"
• Played For Laughs: ???
• Played For Drama: Charles and Darcy's relationship has weathered several storms, with one of their greatest hurdles being his reluctance to trust somebody after having his heart broken too many times before. Now the two of them are finally engaged, but Charles puts all that at risk by breaching the touchy topic of a prenuptial agreement... "just in case" things don't work out after all.

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