Kenneth Burke's dramatistic theory of social movements can be applied to current romantic jealousy theories. Burke's dramaturgy has seven major elements: order, guilt, negation, victimage, mortification, catharsis, and redemption. These elements may all be transposed onto Burke's three critical motives: Order (status quo), Secret (differences between partners), and Kill (changing the old order for a new one). The dyadic relationship required for romantic jealousy to occur creates an order for itself comparable to orders in society. Negation occurs when one partner in a dyad deviates from the other's definition of how the relationship should be. Guilt can occur either before or after the negation. The guilt preceding negation is usually felt by the one who has broken the order. Guilt is experienced by the jealous partner after negation because that person feels he or she has done something wrong. Victimage is similar to scapegoating. Freud believed that one expiates the guilt of infidelity by projecting it onto the partner, or scapegoat. Victimage has been documented in which the jealous partner has attempted to punish either the rival or the romantic partner. Mortification is another means of expiating guilt, but places the blame on oneself. Mortification has also been documented involving victimage of the self, or suicide. The aspects of redemption and catharsis, in which the guilt is resolved and a new order is obtained, are only implicitly explored in the literature on romantic jealousy. (SRT)