Biography
People — particularly those with authority, be it moral or political — are expected to act in accordance with the ideals they espouse. That is to say, they should practice what they preach.
Those who don't are hypocrites. The dichotomy here is that they may fervently and honestly believe what they say is right and good... they just don't have the moral strength or willpower to consistently live up to their own high standards. (Unless, of course, they're outright liars with no intention of living up to said standards.) They might believe that Utopia Justifies the Means and that they aren't worthy of it — or that only they can be entrusted to use those means because they're so enlightened (ie. better than everyone else). Maybe they're deeply in denial or have a severe lack of self-awareness, and justify their hypocrisy as either necessary or dismiss it with a simple, "That's different." In other cases, they might find the lure of Forbidden Fruit impossible to resist. Or maybe they think the rules should only apply to others.
Frequently, they will be found out, be it in an Engineered Public Confession or through investigation. The Hero may have the choice of either exposing them as a fraud and discrediting them before their followers, or keeping their secret and blackmailing them into cleaning up their act or helping in another matter. How this turns out depends on how sympathetic or "Jerkass-ic" they are, and how humanizing their "vice" is, whether it be a diet guru eating donuts (probably OK), an eco-businessman clear-cutting forests (probably not OK) or a moral crusader outright molesting children (most certainly not OK). If a villain finds a friend of the hero's Fatal Flaw this way (or worse, the hero's own), they might use Flaw Exploitation to torment and control them.
If found out and/or exposed, the hypocrite will have the chance to mend their ways and do a Heel–Face Turn in one of two forms: either loosen their standards (and cut everyone else the same slack they give themselves), or tighten their belt (and actually live up to their espoused ideals). Failure to do either is usually enough for either a mental breakdown (heroic or villainous, depending on the character) or a full-on Face–Heel Turn as they reject their morality and embrace their vice. Alternatively, because they are feigning what they claim to be, they may find they are Becoming the Mask.
Heroes are often accused of hypocrisy by villains who want to believe they're not that different and brag At Least I Admit It. Heroes who actually are hypocrites tend to hear "What the Hell, Hero?" quite a lot. (Unless they don't.) Hypocrites, be they heroes or villains, often find themselves hated by the audience (intentionally or not) even more than the Card-Carrying Villain, chiefly because they lied about their convictions, while those evil villains come off as being pretty honest in what they do. This is usually because of the Holier Than Thou implications that someone who publicly preaches about good things is signaling to other people that they are a good person (or are at least better than some others), and people feel cheated when that does not end up being the case; Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil, after all, and a Hypocrite's actions betray their words, preaching, and supposedly good proposals. Remember also, however, that the Hypocrite Has a Point; just because someone is being hypocritical does not also mean that they are wrong.
An Entitled Bastard is often guilty of hypocrisy; because of their inflated sense of self-importance, they genuinely believe that they are deserving of gratitude, respect, love, etc. from others, even if they treat others with no such dignity (which is often the case). They will disregard the rights of others without shame, yet be genuinely offended at how "unfair" it is for those same people to not like them.
However, like mentioned above, it's possible to be hypocritical and a good person at the same time, whether that would be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, or a full-blown Nice Guy, and it depends on how severe the hypocrisy is (and the hypocrite's level of self-awareness). This in return, is what makes hypocrisy mainly considered to be a minor form of jerkassery by default.
It depends on whether this is intentional or not. One writer would do this intentionally so the character would go through a Jerkass Realization. Hypocritical Humor is a minor degree of this, when Played for Laughs. Another writer may make a character or do something but then forgot about it later on, then making them do things that contrast with earlier claims. It usually takes fans or other writers to point them out, and it’s up to the writer to fix it or leave it like that.
Hypocrite is NOT a YMMV trope. Please don't add it to YMMV pages. A character is a Hypocrite in-universe or isn't one at all.
The word "Hypocrisy" redirects to this page. For the Swedish Melodic Death Metal band, see Hypocrisy.
