• Introduction
• Character
• Plot
• Setting
• Point of View
• Style
• Poetry

Conflict

Conflict is the element of a literary work that shows the concerns of the central characters. Conflicts can be “external,” between characters and outside forces, or “internal,” within a character who struggles with opposing feelings.

Conflict also shapes the roles of certain characters who struggle with each other. “Protagonists” are main characters who set the plot in motion, and “antagonists” struggle against, or block, the protagonist, giving rise to a conflict. Well-written conflicts in literature are significant in engaging our interest.