Conflict in literature - what is this concept? Types, types and examples of conflicts in literature

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What makes the reader look at the first page of a work of fiction? Someone picked up a book because of the name of the author, someone was attracted by the catchy or provocative title of a story or novel. So? What can make you read page after page, impatiently "swallowing" printed lines? Of course, the plot! And the sharper it is twisted, the more painful the experiences of the characters, the more interesting it is for the reader to follow its development.

The main component of an ideally developing plot is a conflict, in literature it is a struggle, a confrontation of interests and characters, a different perception of situations. All this gives rise to a relationship between literary images, behind him, like a guide, the plot develops.

Defining conflict and how it is applied

It is worth considering in more detail such a concept as conflict. The definition in the literature of a certain specific form, a kind of device that reflects the confrontation between the characters of the main characters, their different understanding of the same situation,explaining the cause of their feelings, thoughts, desires in similar or the same circumstances is a conflict. In simpler terms, this is a struggle between good and evil, love and hate, truth and lies.

We find the clash of antagonisms in every work of fiction, be it a short story, an epic saga, an epoch-making novel or a play for dramatic theater. Only the presence of a conflict can set the ideological direction of the plot, build a composition, and organize a qualitative relationship of opposite images.

The author's ability to create a conflict situation in the narrative in time, endow opposite images with vivid characters, the ability to defend his truth will surely interest readers and make them read the work to the end. From time to time it must be brought to the highest point of passion, create unsolvable situations, and then allow the characters to successfully overcome them. They must take risks, get out, suffer emotionally and physically, evoking in readers a whole heap of all kinds of emotions from tender tenderness to deep condemnation of their actions.

What should be the conflict

True masters of the artistic word allow their characters to have and defend their point of view, deeply captivate readers with different moral values in the network of their feelings and reasoning. Only in this case, the army of fans of the work will grow and be replenished by lovers of the artistic word of different ages, different social strata,all levels of education. If the author managed to capture the attention of readers from the first pages and keep them on one plot or ideological confrontation until the final point - praise and honor to his pen! But this happens infrequently, and if conflicts in works of literature do not grow like a snowball, do not involve new characters in their solution, already with their own difficulties, neither the story, nor the novel, nor the play of even the most famous author.

The plot should dynamically spin up to a certain point, giving rise to the most incredible situations: misunderstanding, hidden and obvious threats, fear, losses - constant dynamics is needed. What can create it? Just a twist in the plot. Sometimes it can be caused by the unexpected discovery of a revealing letter, otherwise it can be the theft of irrefutable evidence of someone's truth. In one chapter, the hero may become a witness to some kind of crime or a piquant situation, in another, he himself becomes the culprit of something ambiguous. In the third, he may have suspicious patrons about whom he knows nothing, but feels their presence. Then it may turn out that these are not patrons at all, but hidden enemies from the environment close to him, who are constantly nearby. Let sometimes examples of conflicts in literature seem banal, far-fetched, but they should keep the reader in constant suspense.

The effect of conflict on plot poignancy

The individual suffering and ordeal of the protagonist of a work of art can arouse interest and sympathyonly for the time being, if the secondary characters of the story are not involved in the conflict. The confrontation needs to deepen and expand to give the plot novelty, brightness and poignancy.

Slow discourse, even if it is about lofty feelings and holy innocence, can make the reader want to turn boring pages in annoyance. Because ideology is, of course, wonderful, but if it is understandable to everyone and does not give rise to a bunch of questions, then it will not be able to captivate someone's imagination, and when we pick up a book, we need vivid emotions. Conflict in literature is a provocation.

It can be given not so much by a heap of incomprehensible situations, as by a clear and precise goal of the characters, which each of them carries through the whole work, without betraying it, even when the writer throws his characters into the heat of passions. Any of the opposing sides should contribute to the development of the plot: some with their wild, illogical antics to infuriate the reader, others - to calm him down with reasonableness and originality of actions. But all together must solve one problem - to create sharpness of the narrative.

A work of art as a reflection of conflict situations

What else, besides a book, can tear us out of everyday life and saturate it with impressions? Romantic relationships, which are sometimes so lacking. Traveling to exotic countries, which not everyone can afford in reality. Exposure of criminals hiding under the masks of law-abiding andrespectable citizen. The reader is looking for something in the book that worries him, worries and interests him most at a certain period of time, but in real life nothing like this happens to him or his acquaintances. The theme of conflict in literature fills this need. We will find out how it all happens, what it feels like. Any problem, any life situation can be found in books and the whole gamut of experiences can be transferred to yourself.

Types and types of conflicts

In the literature, several characteristic conflicts are clearly expressed: love, ideological, philosophical, social, symbolic, psychological, religious, military. Of course, this is not a complete list, we took only the main categories for consideration, and each of them has its own list of iconic works that reflect one or more of the listed types of conflict. So, Shakespeare's poem "Romeo and Juliet", without going into demagoguery, can be attributed to the love type. The relationship between people, which is based on love, is shown in it brightly, tragically, hopelessly. This work reflects the nature of drama like no other more in the best traditions of the classics. The plot of "Dubrovsky" slightly repeats the main theme of "Romeo and Juliet" and can also serve as a typical example, but we still remember Pushkin's wonderful story after we name Shakespeare's most famous drama.

It is necessary to mention other types of conflicts in the literature. Speaking of the psychological, we recall Byron's Don Juan. Imagethe main character is so contradictory and so vividly expresses the internal confrontation of the personality that it would be difficult to imagine a more typical representative of the mentioned conflict.

Several plot lines of the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", masterfully created characters are typical for love, social, and ideological conflicts at once. The clash of different ideas, claiming the supremacy of one over the other and vice versa, runs through almost every literary creation, completely captivating the reader both in its storyline and in the conflict one.

Coexistence of multiple conflicts in fiction

In order to more specifically consider how conflicts are used in works of literature, types are intertwined, it is more reasonable to take for example works of a large form: "War and Peace" by L. Tolstoy, "The Idiot", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Demons" F Dostoevsky, "Taras Bulba" by N. Gogol, the drama "A Doll's House" by G. Ibsen. Each reader can create his own list of stories, novels, plays, in which it is easy to trace the coexistence of several confrontations. Quite often, along with others, there is a conflict of generations in Russian literature.

So, in "Demons" an attentive researcher will find a symbolic, love, philosophical, social and even psychological conflict. In literature, this is almost everything on which the plot rests. "War and Peace" is also rich in confrontation of images and ambiguity of events. The conflict here lies even in the very title of the novel. Analyzing the characters of his heroes, one can find a Don Juan psychological conflict in each. Pierre Bezukhov despises Helen, but he is captivated by her brilliance. Natasha Rostova is happy with her love for Andrei Bolkonsky, but goes on about a sinful attraction to Anatole Kuragin. The social and domestic conflict is guessed in Sonya's love for Nikolai Rostov and the involvement of the whole family in this love. And so it is in every chapter, in every little passage. And all this together is an immortal, great work, which has no equal.

Vivid pictures of the confrontation of generations in the novel "Fathers and Sons"

No less admiration, like "War and Peace", deserves I. Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons". It is generally accepted that this work is a reflection of the ideological conflict, the confrontation of generations. Undoubtedly, the superiority of one's own ideas over those of others, which all the heroes of the story defend with equal respect, confirms this statement. Even the existing love conflict between Bazarov and Odintsova pales against the background of the irreconcilable struggle of the same Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich. The reader suffers along with them, understanding and justifying one, blaming and despising the other for his convictions. But each of these heroes has both judges and adherents among fans of the work. The conflict of generations in Russian literature is nowhere else expressed so clearly.

The war of ideas of representatives of two different classes is described less vividly, but this makes it even more tragic - Bazarov's opinion in relation to his own parent. Is this not a conflict? Hereonly which one - ideological or still more social and everyday? In one way or another, it's dramatic, harrowing, even scary.

The image of the main nihilist created by Turgenev from all existing works of art will always be the most controversial literary character, and the novel was written in 1862 - more than a century and a half ago. Is this not proof of the genius of the novel?

Reflection of social conflict in literature

We have already mentioned this kind of conflict in a few words, but it deserves more detailed consideration. In "Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin, he is revealed in such simple words, so clearly rises before us from the first lines of the work, that nothing else dominates him, not even Tatiana's painful love and Lensky's untimely death.

“Whenever I wanted to limit my life to my home circle … What could be worse than a family in the world …”, says Evgeny, and you believe him, you understand him, even if the reader has different views on the subject! Such dissimilar personal values of Onegin and Lensky, their dreams, aspirations, lifestyles - radically opposite - reflect nothing more than a social conflict in literature. This is a reflection of two bright worlds: poetry and prose, ice and fire. These two polar opposites could not coexist together: the apotheosis of the conflict is the death in the duel of Lensky.

Philosophical and symbolic types of conflicts and their place in fiction

As for the philosophical conflict, there are more ideal examples for its study than the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, from the firstminutes you don't remember. The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, The Teenager, and further down the list of Fyodorov Mikhailovich's immortal legacy - everything is woven from the finest philosophical threads of reasoning of almost all the characters in his works without exception. Dostoevsky's works are vivid examples of conflicts in literature! What is the depraved (but for the heroes quite ordinary) theme of adultery, which runs through the entire novel "Demons", and is especially pronounced in the chapter "At Fyodor", forbidden for a long time. The words with which these addictions are justified and explained is nothing but the internal philosophical conflict of the characters.

A vivid example of symbolism is the work of M. Maeterlinck "The Blue Bird". In it, reality dissolves into imagination and vice versa. The symbolic transformation of faith, hope, and one's own conviction into a mythical bird is an exemplary plot for this type of conflict.

Windmills by Cervantes, the shadow of Hamlet's father by Shakespeare, nine circles of hell by Dante are also symbolic. Modern writers make little use of symbolism as a conflict, but epics are filled with it.

Types of conflicts in Gogol's works

The works of the greatest writer of Russia and Ukraine are saturated with brightly marked symbolism with its devils, mermaids, brownies - the dark sides of human souls. The story "Taras Bulba" noticeably differs from most of the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich in the complete absence of otherworldly images - everything is real, historically justified and nothing in terms of the intensity of conflictsis not inferior to that part of fiction that exists in every literary work to one degree or another.

Typical types of conflicts in literature: love, social, psychological, generational conflict can be easily traced in "Taras Bulba". In Russian literature, the image of Andriy is so verified as an example on which they are tied that there is no need to go into explanations in which scenes they are traced. It is enough to re-read the book and pay special attention to some points. Conflicts in the works of Russian literature are used for this.

And a little more about conflicts

There are many varieties of conflict: comic, lyrical, satirical, dramatic, humorous. These are the so-called pretentious views, they are used to enhance the genre style of the work.

Such types of conflicts in literature as plot-religious, family, inter-ethnic - go through the works of the theme corresponding to the conflict and are superimposed on the entire narrative as a whole. In addition, the presence of this or that confrontation may reflect the sensual side of the story or novel: hatred, tenderness, love. In order to emphasize some facet of the relationship between the characters, they exacerbate the conflict between them. The definition in the literature of this concept has long had a clear form. Confrontation, confrontation, struggle is used when it is necessary to more vividly express not only the nature of the characters and the main storyline, but also the whole systemideas reflected in the work. The conflict is applicable in any prose: children's, detective, women's, biographical, documentary. All kinds and types of conflicts cannot be listed, they are numerous as epithets. But without them, no creation is created. Plot and conflict are inseparable in literature.