Stranger's Poetry

Writing Ideas: Couple Tropes & Archetypes

Ant and Grasshopper: One is hardworking, while the other is lazy.

Beast and Beauty: A monster (or equivalent being) is romantically paired with a kind and attractive person who brings out the best in them.

Cat and Dog: One is more solitary and sentimental; the other is more outgoing and sociable.

Death and the Maiden: A personification of death falls in love with a woman.

Frog and Ox: One character competes with the other in an attempt to be their equal, but fails, eventually learning humility and self-acceptance.

Grump and Sunshine. One character is so grumpy all the time; the other character is so bubbly all the time. And somehow, through that power-of-love thing, they end up balancing each other out.

Lady and Knight: The brave, chivalrous knight defends and falls in love with the fair lady.

Lion and Mouse: One is bigger/stronger; the other is smaller/weaker and usually timid, but despite this, is able to help/save the Lion from some sort of danger.

Suspect and Investigator: For this trope, one person is investigating another for some reason, whether it's for a crime or bad accounting or whatever. This would seem like an antagonistic relationship, but the forced proximity increases the chances of the two characters clicking (and questioning the motives of each other at the same time).

Tortoise and Hare: One is more reliable and patient; the other is more impulsive and reckless.

Hedgehog and Fox: Based on Sir Isaiah Berlin's The Hedgehog and the Fox (1953), in which he divides the world’s thinkers into those (the foxes) who, like Aristotle and Shakespeare, “knew many things,” and those (the hedgehogs) who, like Plato and Dante, “knew one big thing.”

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