What Is Conflict In Literature? | Definition & Examples
- Melchior Antoine
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 3
Conflict is key to making literature interesting. One could even go so far as to say that a literary work that doesn’t include conflict is one that fails. Conflict in literature can take either one of two forms — External Conflict and Internal Conflict.
A conflict is a struggle between the protagonist and an internal or external force that drives the story's plot. External conflict involves a struggle between the protagonist and other characters. The main external conflict typically occurs between the protagonist and the antagonist. Think of the famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald — The Great Gatsby (1925).
The external conflict is between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, the man married to the woman he loves, Daisy. Gatsby is in love with Daisy and wants her at all costs. Tom is a violent and dangerous man, who is willing to hurt and kill to keep Daisy.
Daisy even makes a euphemistic reference to Tom’s violent potential during a secret meeting with Gatsby, where Nick, the narrator serves as their lookout:
Then they sauntered over to my house and sat on the steps for half an hour, while at her request I remained watchfully in the garden. "In case there's a fire or a flood," she explained, "or any act of God.”
She refers to Tom’s capacity for violence as looking out for “any act of God.” The potential external conflict between Gatsby and Tom provides the story with tension. We wait for a showdown between Tom, the violent former athlete who is described as having “a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body” and Gatsby, a man who made his way through the world as a mobster.
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Internal conflict vs. External conflict
External conflict does a good job of driving the plot and creating tension in the story. We read on to see how the tension between our protagonist and antagonist will finally be resolved. Internal conflict is different.
It relates to internal struggles or tension within our protagonist. This struggle may involve the difficulty or inability to reconcile opposing desires, emotions, or beliefs. Quite often, this internal conflict is related to the fatal flaw of a character, which leads to their downfall or tragedy.
In an earlier article, we discussed the internal conflict within Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart (published in 1958). He is afflicted with toxic masculinity that does not allow him to accept human instincts related to compassion or tenderness.
He dooms himself by killing an adopted son because “He was afraid of being thought weak.” To learn more about Okonkwo’s dilemma, you can check out my previous article on internal conflict: Presenting Internal Conflict In Literature.
Internal conflict is sometimes characterized as person versus self. External conflict itself can also be classified into six different types of conflicts. The table below looks at all seven types of conflicts, including person vs. self.
Type of Conflict | Definition | Example in Literature |
Character vs. Character | A struggle between two characters, often the protagonist and antagonist. | Harry Potter vs. Voldemort in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series |
Character vs. Self | An internal conflict where a character battles their own emotions or decisions. | Hamlet’s indecision and inner turmoil in Shakespeare’s Hamlet |
Character vs. Nature | A character faces natural forces such as storms, animals, or disease. | Santiago vs. the marlin and the sea in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea |
Character vs. Society | A character stands in opposition to social norms, laws, or beliefs. | Anna vs. Russian high society in Anna Karenina |
Character vs. Supernatural | A character confronts forces beyond the natural world like ghosts or gods. | Ichabod Crane vs. the Headless Horseman in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, |
Character vs. Technology | A character struggles against machines or technological forces. | Sarah Connor vs the cyborg assassin in The Terminator. |
Character vs. Fate | A character tries to escape or change destiny or prophecy. | Oedipus vs. his prophesied fate in Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex |
The best-written stories typically try to balance internal conflict with external conflict. For example, a character may have to resolve the internal struggle within before they are ready to take on the main antagonist in an external conflict.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2025, July 09). What Is Conflict In Literature? | Definition & Examples. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/conflict-in-literature |
