Conflict: the engine and the argument of a plot
A conflict is a struggle between opposing forces: two characters, a character and a society, a character and circumstances, or two pulls inside one mind. Without conflict a story has nothing at stake. With it, the plot has a direction, and the reader has questions to wait on: who will prevail, at what cost, and what will each side turn out to stand for?
The function of conflict is therefore double.
- It drives the plot. Conflict creates tension and the need for choices. Events are arranged to escalate it, complicate it, delay it and finally release or leave it open.
- It develops the meaning. The two sides of a conflict usually stand for values, and watching them collide is how a work argues. The way a conflict ends, and who or what it costs, is part of the work’s judgement.
You can usually sort conflicts into kinds, though one work often contains several:
| Kind | What opposes what | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | Two pulls inside one character (duty and desire; conscience and ambition) | Lady Macbeth’s conscience against her resolve |
| Interpersonal | One character against another | The creature and Victor in Frankenstein |
| Social | A character against a society, class, institution or convention | Pip’s rise against the class system in Great Expectations |
| Circumstantial | A character against fate, nature or situation | Characters at the mercy of a storm or a debt |
What the framework asks you to notice
Beyond identifying conflicts, the course asks you to explain how conflicts work in a text.
- Things not shown can cause conflict. An unseen character, or an action that happened before the story begins, may be in conflict with a character or produce conflict for one. A work does not need to dramatise every cause; sometimes the force of a conflict comes from what is reported, not shown.
- Resolution and release. The resolution of the central conflict may bring a moment of catharsis, an emotional release after built-up tension. Not every conflict is resolved like that.
- Unresolved endings. Most plots end by resolving the central conflict, but some do not. The lack of resolution may itself contribute to an interpretation: it can leave the reader holding the question the work has raised.
A method for conflict
- Identify the opposing forces and say what each stands for (a value, a claim, a fear).
- Say what is at stake. What does each side stand to win or lose?
- Trace how it develops. Which events escalate it, complicate it or delay it?
- Check for the unseen. Is any cause hidden in an earlier or off-stage action, or in an unseen character?
- Explain the ending. Is the conflict resolved, released or left open, and what does that say about the work’s meaning?
Worked example 1: a conflict between creator and creation (Frankenstein)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) builds its central conflict between Victor Frankenstein and the being he has made. After Victor refuses to listen, the creature argues his case:
I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. […] I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.
Victor replies: “Begone! I will not hear you. There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies.”
Opposing forces. On one side stands the creature, who claims a creator’s duty from Victor (as Adam might from God) and says his violence is a result of neglect. On the other stands Victor, who treats him as a monster to be shunned. They are also split internally: the creature between benevolence and vengeance, Victor between responsibility and horror.
What is at stake. For the creature, companionship and belonging; for Victor, safety, reputation and the ability to disown what he has done. For the reader, the question of who bears responsibility for the harm that follows.
Development. The conflict escalates as refusals produce killings, each of which increases Victor’s guilt and the creature’s rage. The exchange above is a hinge: it gives the creature a reasoned moral argument and makes Victor’s reply sound deaf.
Function. The conflict does more than supply a chase. By giving the creature eloquent claims (“I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend”), it unsettles the reader’s sense of who is the monster. The conflict’s two sides turn out to be competing accounts of responsibility: the creature says that a maker owes care to what he makes; Victor behaves as if he can undo the act by refusing it.
Worked example 2: an unresolved ending and an unseen cause
The ending of Frankenstein leaves part of the conflict open. After Victor’s death, the creature appears on the ship, says that he will end his own life, and leaves. Walton reports: “He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.”
Resolution or not. One side of the conflict has been ended by death, and the creature announces his own end (“I shall die”), but the reader never sees it. The last sight is of a figure disappearing into the dark. The conflict is partly resolved, but its moral question (who was responsible?) is not answered, and the lack of a confirmed end leaves the reader with the creature’s voice and the unfinished business.
An unseen cause in another novel. In Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861), the story’s conflicts depend on events that the narrative never dramatises. Miss Havisham’s jilting happened decades before the story begins. Herbert reports only that the man “most heartlessly broke the marriage off”, and that she then “stopped all the clocks” at the hour of the wedding. The reader never sees the event, yet it creates the present conflict: it explains why she has raised Estella to wound men and why Pip becomes a target. Later, Miss Havisham admits to Pip what her plan has done: “I stole her heart away, and put ice in its place.” The conflict that results is internal and interpersonal. Miss Havisham is in conflict with her own past, and Estella is in conflict with the heart she was denied. A second unseen cause is Pip’s act in the opening chapter, when he helps a hunted convict. It is a preceding action whose consequences return only years later, when the unseen benefactor reveals himself.
Function. In both novels, what is not shown gives conflict its weight. In Frankenstein, the creature’s disappearance leaves the central argument open; in Great Expectations, the off-stage past shows how conflicts persist after their causes have gone from view. The reader must reason from reports and traces to understand the forces at work.
Weak and strong versions side by side
| Weak | Why it falls short | Stronger |
|---|---|---|
| “There is a conflict between Victor and the creature.” | Names it; no function. | “The conflict between Victor and the creature puts competing accounts of a maker’s responsibility on stage, which unsettles the reader’s sense of who is the monster.” |
| “The ending is unresolved.” | A label. | “By ending on the creature ‘lost in darkness and distance’, Shelley leaves the question of responsibility open and the reader with the creature’s argument.” |
| “Miss Havisham was hurt in the past.” | Summary. | “Because Miss Havisham’s jilting is only reported, its power is felt through the stopped clocks and her teaching of Estella, so a conflict that was never shown governs the present.” |
| “The conflict creates tension.” | Could be said of any work. | “Each refusal of Victor’s escalates the creature’s violence and deepens his guilt, so the conflict tightens until the ending.” |
Common misconceptions
- “Conflict means fighting.” Conflict can be quiet: a conscience against a wish, a silence between two people.
- “Every conflict is resolved.” Some are released, some are left open, and the open ending can be the point.
- “If it is not on the page it cannot matter.” Unseen characters and past actions can create powerful present conflicts.
- “The conflict is only between two people.” Works often layer internal, interpersonal and social conflicts.
- “Catharsis means a happy ending.” It is an emotional release, which may follow a tragic ending.
- “Describing the conflict is analysis.” Explain what it develops, what is at stake, and what its ending means.
Where this leads
Try the practice questions, the revision notes and the checklist. Next, Topic 9.5 turns to the narrator or character through whom a conflict is seen.
Quick questions
Are internal conflicts less important than external ones?
No. Many of the strongest literary arguments concern conflicts inside a character. External conflict often exposes an internal one.
What is catharsis?
Catharsis is the emotional release when a work resolves its suspense or central conflict, often through a climactic event. Discuss it only where it helps explain the work's effect.
Is an unresolved ending a flaw?
Not usually. It can leave the reader with the conflict still open, which is a meaningful choice. Explain what the open ending asks the reader to consider.