Trope
A trope is a narrative convention or common storytelling device that recurs across works. It can be a plot pattern, a character type, a setting, or a symbolic element that signals expectations to audiences. Tropes function as shorthand, enabling efficient storytelling and quick conveyance of meaning within genres such as fantasy, romance, or thriller. The term is used across literary criticism, screen studies, and game design. Although often conflated with clichés, tropes are not inherently negative; they may be executed well, subverted, or reinterpreted to produce surprise.
Origins lie in rhetoric and literary theory, where trope refers to a figure of speech or a
Studying tropes illuminates how stories are built, how cultures encode values, and how audiences anticipate and