Student Question
What does internal conflict mean in literary terms?
Quick answer:
Internal conflict in literature refers to a struggle occurring within a character's mind, often involving a difficult decision or emotional turmoil. Examples include Macbeth's decision and guilt over killing King Duncan in Macbeth and the narrator's guilt-induced hallucination in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Such conflicts are crucial for character development and plot progression, highlighting personal dilemmas and moral choices.
An internal conflict is one that happens within the mind of the character in a story. Usually internal conflicts deal with some sort of decision or choice the character must make or an emotional struggle that must be resolved. Many famous short stories, plays, and novels include internal conflicts. For example, in the play Macbeth, the central character Macbeth struggles with the decision whether or not to kill King Duncan; then afterwards, he feels so incredibly guilty that he becomes paranoid. Another great example of internal conflict is Poe's classic short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," in which the unreliable narrator imagines himself to be tormented by the beating heart of his murdered roommate.
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