Nature: Here, the character's enemy is not another person, but instead the natural world. Classic fairy tales and myths often fall into this category: the miller's daughter outsmarts Rumpelstiltskin Cinderella is freed from the household of her evil step-mother Theseus slays the minotaur. Character: In this type of conflict, the protagonist, or main character, faces off with an antagonist who must be defeated. Literary critics usually sub-divide external conflict into the three categories: character vs. When the protagonist of a story is working to solve a problem or defeat an enemy, readers naturally want to know what will happen next: Does the character we're rooting for win or lose? If they find challenges on the way to their goal, will they overcome them? And how will they do it? Though many works of literature focus on a central conflict, a single story can include more than one conflict or problem, and in works of literature that feature multiple storylines with different protagonists, several sets of characters may be involved in separate ongoing conflicts.

In fact, they can often play out simultaneously.Ĭonflict is an essential element of any plot: in most works of literature, one or more characters are struggling to solve a problem, defeat an enemy, win an achievement, or make some kind of change in the world. Conflict motivates characters to take action, and that's what keeps readers engaged. External and internal conflicts aren't mutually exclusive.External conflict is defined in contrast to internal conflict, in which the struggle is between a character and themselves-for example, between selfish and selfless impulses.

In an external conflict, a character may be struggling against another character, the natural world, or society.

Some additional key details about external conflict: External conflict drives the action of a plot forward. What is external conflict? Here’s a quick and simple definition:Īn external conflict is a problem, antagonism, or struggle that takes place between a character and an outside force.

Internal conflict quotes