Literary Conflict

Depending on how it is defined, there can be many different types of literary conflict. The same types of conflict are used in most art forms: plays, books, movies, etc.

Most literature has a plot that revolves around a conflict between either people or impersonal forces. Not everything fits neatly into a category, but here are the most common examples.

The most basic conflict: “Man versus Man” Two characters (male or female) are in direct opposition in some way. Conflict may be psychological, emotional, physical, or any combination of the three.

Example 1: Harry Potter vs. Lord Voldemort NOTE: Characters don’t actually have to meet to be in conflict.

Example 2: Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed (or Rocky vs. anyone else)

Second type: “Man versus Himself” This is a struggle between a character and his conscience, morals, or physical limitations. The battle is internal.

Example: Hamlet “To be, or not to be, that is the question— whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.”

Example 2 Robocop (the old version)

Third type: “Man versus Nature” A character is opposed by a force of nature (sometimes represented by an animal) or the weather in some way.

Example 1: 2012 (movie)

Example 2: Moby Dick

Fourth type: “Man versus Society” A character struggles against the rules, beliefs, or pressures of a community, his family, group of friends, or society as a whole.

Example 1: The Catcher in the Rye “I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it. “

Example 2: Rebel Without a Cause

Example 3: Mean Girls And every other movie about high school!

Fifth type: “Man versus Fate” A character struggles with the “forces” of the universe, such as God, destiny, or chance. This often takes the form of a character who was “born to do” something.

Example 1: Oedipus Rex “… I was fated to lay with my mother, and show to daylight an accursed breed which men would not endure, and I was doomed to be murderer of the father that begot me.”

Example 2: The Matrix

Important Note Any story can have multiple conflicts going on at the same time. In fact, most of them do. A story with one “pure” conflict is rare. The examples given here have one dominant conflict that underpins their theme.

To determine what type of conflict you’re studying: Think: 1.What entities are involved? A person? People? Is the supernatural mentioned? 2.Does a character talk about his feelings? 3.How many specific other characters are mentioned?