What is literary conflict? Artistic conflict in literature

Recently I read a response from one author that was stunning in its naivety. To reproach the reader, they say, the conflict in your story was not convincing, the author blue eye wrote: but I didn’t have any conflict, my heroine is a very peaceful woman and doesn’t quarrel with anyone.
Well what can I say? Just sit down to write another article (smiley).
I apologize to the old-timers of K2, I’ll start with what is well known to you, you can run diagonally))) But at the end I promise something new - about the types of conflicts in literary work.

In everyday life, we understand conflict as something like a quarrel - and a violent quarrel, at a minimum, with shouting, and even with the use of physical force.
A literary conflict is not a quarrel between characters.
Literary conflict is a contradiction that forms a plot.
No conflict - no work.

Thus, if in real life a person can be proud of the fact that he is “non-conflict”, but for the author this is rather a disadvantage. Good author must be able to create a conflict, develop it and end it intelligibly.
That's what we'll talk about.

First, about the TYPOLOGY of literary conflicts.

There are external and internal conflicts.

For example, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
Typical external conflict- there is a hero who, by the will of fate, finds himself on a desert island, and there is an environment, as they say, in pure form. Nature becomes man's enemy. There is no social background in the novel. The hero does not fight either social prejudices or the opposition of social ideas - the survival of the hero as a biological organism is at stake.
The hero is completely alone - he is confronted by a world to which moral laws do not apply. Storm, hurricane, scorching sun, hunger, wild flora and fauna exist on their own. To survive, the hero will have to accept the conditions of the game without being able to change them. Conflict = disagreement, contradiction, clash, intense struggle, embodied in the plot of a literary work? Undoubtedly.

The next type of conflict is also external, but with society = conflict as a contradiction between individuals/groups.
Chatsky against Famusov society, Malchish-Kibalchish against the bourgeoisie, Don Quixote against the world.

It is not necessary that the main figure in the confrontation should be a person.
An example is Chingiz Aitmatov’s novel “The Scaffold”. A conflict between a man and a pair of wolves who lost their cubs due to human fault. Wolves are opposed to humans, humanized, endowed with nobility and high moral strength, which people are deprived of.

The source of conflict is the discrepancy between the interests of society (globally) and the interests of a particular individual.

For example, Rasputin’s story “Farewell to Matera”. A dam is being built on the Angara, and the village of Matera, which has existed for three hundred years, will be flooded.
The main character, Grandma Daria, who has lived her entire life without fail and selflessly, suddenly raises her head and begins to actively resist - she directly enters the battle for the village, armed with a stick.

In addition to the interests of society = a group of people, the character can be opposed by the private interests of individuals.
The field mouse forces Thumbelina to marry her neighbor Mole, and the evil Stapleton wants to kill Sir Baskerville.

Of course, there are no purely external conflicts. Any external conflict is accompanied by the development in the hero’s soul of conflicting feelings, desires, goals, etc. That is, they talk about an INTERNAL conflict, which makes the character more voluminous, and, accordingly, the entire narrative more interesting.

The author's skill lies precisely in creating a pool of conflicts = points of intersection of characters' interests and convincingly showing their development.
All world literature is a collection of conflicts. But despite all the diversity, there are basic points on which the plot is built.

First of all, this is the SUBJECT OF CONFLICT, that is, what the confrontation between the heroes arose about.
This can be material objects (inheritance, property, money, etc.) and intangible = abstract ideas (thirst for power, rivalry, revenge, etc.). In any case, the conflict in a work is always a conflict of the characters’ values.

Here we encounter the second reference point– PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONFLICT, that is, characters.

As we remember, characters are main and secondary. The gradation takes place precisely according to the degree of involvement of the actor in the conflict.
The main characters are those whose interests lie at the heart of the confrontation. For example, Petrusha Grinev and Shvabrin, Pechorin and Grushnitsky, Soames Forsyth and his wife Irene.
All the rest are secondary, can be part of the “support group” (=be closer to the main characters) or simply set off events (=serve as a “volumetric background”).
The more a character can influence an event, the higher his rank in the gradation characters.
For real good work There are never “empty” characters. Each character at some point throws wood into the conflict, and the number of “throws” is directly proportional to the character’s rank.

Characters need MOTIVATION to engage in conflict.
That is, the author must clearly understand what goals this or that character wants to achieve.

The motive and subject of the conflict are two different things.
For example, in The Hound of the Baskervilles the subject of the conflict is material (it is money and an estate).
The motive of Sir Baskerville (the one who is the nephew) is to return to his homeland (as you remember, he sought happiness in Canada) and, having become a wealthy man, lead a life befitting an English gentleman.
Stapleton's motive is to eliminate his competitors (in the person of his uncle and real nephew) and also become rich.
Dr. Mortimer's motive is to carry out the wishes of his friend, Charles Baskerville (uncle), to uphold the laws of inheritance and take care of Henry Baskerville (nephew).
Sherlock Holmes' motive is to get to the bottom of the truth. And so on.
As you can see, the subject is the same, it is equally significant for all characters, but the motives differ.
This is the motive of power (Stapleton), the motive of achievement (Stapleton, Henry Baskerville), the motive of self-affirmation (Stapleton, Henry Baskerville, Sherlock Holmes), the motive of duty and responsibility (Dr. Mortimer), the procedural-substantive motive = the desire to complete a task only because the person likes it (Sherlock Holmes), etc.
Each of the characters is confident that he is right, even if he is objectively (? - from the reader’s point of view) wrong. The author can sympathize with any character. The author can express his sympathies using a focal point.
Let's try to look at the Hound of the Baskervilles conflict from a slightly different angle. Stapleton was also from the Baskerville family, and therefore had the same (or almost the same) rights to inheritance. However, Conan Doyle condemns the methods that Stapleton uses. Therefore, events in to a lesser extent are shown through the eyes of Stapleton, and mostly through the eyes of his opponents. Due to this, greater empathy for Henry Baskerville is achieved.

Let's return to our topic - creating a literary conflict.

We have analyzed the PREPARATION STAGE - the subject of the conflict has been selected, the circle of participants has been determined, each of whom has been assigned a significant motive. What's next?

It all starts with the emergence of a conflict situation, which arises even before the plot begins to unfold. Information about the background of the conflict is given in the EXPOSITION of the work.
With the help of exposition, the author creates the atmosphere and mood of the work.

Once upon a time there lived a woman; She really wanted to have a baby, but where could she get one? And so she went to one old witch and told her:
- I really want to have a baby; can you tell me where I can get it?
- From what! said the witch. Here's a grain of barley for you; This is not a simple grain, not the kind that grows in peasants’ fields or is thrown to chickens; put him in flower pot you'll see what happens! (Andersen. Thumbelina)

Then something clicked and the flower completely blossomed. It was exactly like a tulip, but in the cup itself, on a green stool, sat a tiny girl, and because she was so tender, small, only an inch tall, she was nicknamed Thumbelina.

Based on the characteristics of the hero, we understand: there will be a confrontation between the individual and the environment.
Wednesday in this work presented individual characters having certain characteristics.
The author puts the GG in difficult situations = stages of plot development.
What plot nodes/incidents does the author show us?
The first clash of the parties is an episode with a toad and her son (who symbolize a hostile environment).

One night, when she was lying in her cradle, a huge toad, wet and ugly, crawled through the broken window glass! She jumped straight onto the table, where Thumbelina was sleeping under a pink petal.

There is a character characteristic (huge, wet, ugly). His motivation is indicated (“Here is my son’s wife!” said the toad, took the nutshell with the girl and jumped through the window into the garden”)

The first stage of the conflict is resolved in favor of the GG

...the girl was left alone on a green leaf and cried bitterly, bitterly, she did not at all want to live with the nasty toad and marry her nasty son. The little fish that swam under the water must have seen the toad and her son and heard what she was saying, because they all stuck their heads out of the water to look at the little bride. And when they saw her, they felt terribly sorry that such a cute girl had to go live with an old toad in the mud. This won't happen! The fish crowded together below, near the stem on which the leaf was held, and quickly gnawed it with their teeth; the leaf with the girl floated downstream, further, further... Now the toad would never catch up with the baby!

Did you notice? New forces have entered the conflict - fish, characters with the rank of “support group”. Their motive is pity.

In fact, from a psychological point of view, there was an ESCALATION of the conflict - an increase in tension and an increase in the number of participants.

The next plot point is the episode with May beetle. Differences from the previous one (with a toad) - the volume is larger, there are dialogues, a “support group” of the GG’s opponent appears (other cockchafers and caterpillars).

The plot tension increases.
Thumbelina is freezing alone in a bare autumn field.

A new round of conflict with the environment (= with its new representative - the field mouse). The episode with the mouse is longer than the episode with the beetle. More dialogues, descriptions, new characters appear - the mole and the swallow.

Please note that the swallow is initially introduced as a neutral character. For the time being, her role in the plot is hidden - this is the intrigue of the work.

It is also worth noting the development of the GG image. At the beginning of the fairy tale, Thumbelina is very passive - she sleeps in her silk bed. But the conflict with the environment forces her to act. She runs away from the toad, after parting with the cockchafer, she fights for survival alone and finally comes to protest - despite the prohibitions of the mouse, she takes care of the swallow.
That is, the hero develops in accordance with the development of the conflict of the work; character is revealed through the conflict.
Every action of the hero brings to life the action of his opponent. And vice versa. These actions, resulting from one another, move the plot towards the final goal - proof of the premise of the work, chosen by the author.

Further on the composition.
The escalation progresses to the CLIMAX (the moment highest voltage), after which the conflict is resolved.
The climax is the most intense moment in the development of the plot, the decisive one. crucial moment in the relationships and clashes of heroes, from which the transition to the denouement begins.
From the point of view of content, the climax is a certain life test, which maximally sharpens the problem of the work and decisively reveals the character of the hero.

The wedding day has arrived. The mole came for the girl. Now she had to follow him into his hole, live there, deep, deep underground, and never go out into the sun, because the mole couldn’t stand him! And it was so hard for the poor baby to say goodbye to the red sun forever! At the field mouse, she could still admire him at least occasionally.
And Thumbelina went out to look at the sun in last time. The grain had already been harvested from the field, and again only bare, withered stalks stuck out of the ground. The girl moved away from the door and stretched out her hands to the sun:
- Goodbye, clear sun, goodbye!

And here the intrigue laid down by the author in advance kicks in. The swallow, the “peacemaker” character, comes to the fore. At a critical moment, when the death of the hero seems inevitable, she takes Thumbelina to beautiful country, where creatures similar to the GG live (remember that the conflict was initially built on the dissimilarity of the GG to its environment).

The ending of the work is based on a description of the post-conflict stage. The contradictions were resolved (in in this case in favor of GG).

And again about the typology of conflicts, but now from the point of view of the plot.

Conflicts are identified:
- static
- galloping
- gradual
- anticipatory

Let's remember the heroine of the play "The Seagull" Masha - the one who always wears black and says that she is in mourning for her life.
Masha is in love with Konstantin Treplev, but he does not notice her feelings (or notices, but is absolutely indifferent to them). Here is the core of the Masha-Treplev conflict.
Chekhov very skillfully defines it, returns to it several times, but does not develop it. Before us is a STATIC conflict. “Static” means “not moving”, devoid of active force.
Lack of hero development is a sign of a static conflict.

Masha's love lasts for years. She gets married, gives birth to a child, but continues to love Treplev. Her feelings are unchanged, development (as change) does not occur. Over the course of the play, she becomes neither more active nor passive in expressing her love.
The static nature of the conflict was deliberately given. Masha is typical (for Chekhov's works) heroine. He lives by inertia, as they say, goes with the flow and makes no attempt to become the mistress of his own life. own life.

Of course, Masha cannot be called an idol/mannequin. Chekhov puts into her mouth many significant remarks that characterize other heroes and move the action forward. Masha’s life still moves, but so slowly that it seems motionless.
Purpose of introduction this character into the play - to highlight the actions of other characters.
That is, a static conflict is not suitable for building an entire work on it (and only on it) - readers will die of boredom. However, a static conflict is quite suitable for a side plot line.

Now let’s remember the hero of “Taras Bulba” - Andriy.
Andriy, just like his brother Ostap, was at first very happy with life in the Zaporozhye Sich, showing himself to be a “glorious Cossack.” However, during the siege of Dubna, he suddenly goes over to the side of the Poles.
This is the so-called RUNNING CONFLICT.

The key word here is “suddenly,” but rest assured: the author has reserved surprise for the reader, and he himself had a perfect idea of the path his hero had taken. No person can change instantly. All changes in character have preconditions in this very character and require some time to germinate.
Jumping conflict is a great temptation for an inexperienced author. With the help of such a conflict, you can achieve amazing dynamics of the work, but! The slightest inaccuracy in the depiction of the hidden emotional experiences of the characters, the sequestering of episodes will lead to the reader not understanding the character’s motivation = a logical hole will form in the plot.

Gogol, by the way, very carefully prepared the seemingly sudden transformation of his hero. Andriy met a beautiful Pole on the eve of his departure from Kyiv, had a date with her in the church, and on the way to Sich he thought about her. Here are the hidden ones for you soul feelings character.

Thus, a galloping conflict is not a break in logic, but an acceleration of the mental process.

GRADUAL CONFLICT is a classic. It develops naturally and without visible effort on the part of the author. This conflict flows smoothly from the character of the hero.

Formally, the author shows the conflict through a chain of well-thought-out episodes. In each, the hero has some impact. The hero is forced to respond with certain actions. From episode to episode, the impact intensifies, and accordingly, the character changes. Small conflicts (so-called “transitions”) lead the hero from one state to another until he has to make a final decision.
An example is the same “Thumbelina”.

No literary work can exist without PRELIMINARY CONFLICT.

The foregoing conflict gives the story the tension it needs.
The work must begin with an action that sets up the main conflict.

Thus, in Macbeth, a military commander hears a prophecy that he will become king. The prophecy torments his soul until he kills the rightful king. The play begins when Macbeth awakens to the desire to become king.

SUMMARY

Conflict is the core of any literature, and every conflict is prepared or preceded by something.

Conflict can be found everywhere. Any aspiration of the hero can be the basis for conflict. Bring opposites face to face and conflict is inevitable.

There are complex forms of conflict, but everyone simple base: attack and counterattack, action and reaction.
Conflict grows out of character. The intensity of the conflict is determined by the hero's willpower.

Externally, the conflict consists of two opposing forces. In fact, each of these forces is the product of a mass of complex, evolving circumstances that create such a strong tension that it must be resolved with an explosion = climax.

The points of development of the conflict (commencement, climax, denouement) determined the corresponding elements of the plot (where they are characterized from the content side, between them are the development and decline of the action) and composition (where they are characterized from the form side).

A work without conflict falls apart. Without conflicts there can be no life on earth. So literary rules– this is only a repetition of the universal law that governs the Universe.

The most important function of the plot is to reveal life’s contradictions, that is, conflicts (in Hegel’s terminology, collisions).

Conflict- a confrontation of contradiction either between characters, or between characters and circumstances, or within character, underlying the action. If we are dealing with small epic form, then the action develops on the basis of one single conflict. In works of large volume, the number of conflicts increases.

Conflict- the core around which everything revolves. The plot least of all resembles a solid, unbroken line connecting the beginning and end of an event series.

Stages of conflict development- main plot elements:

Exposition – plot – development of action – climax – denouement

Exposition(Latin – presentation, explanation) – a description of the events preceding the plot.

Main functions: Introducing the reader to the action; Presentation of characters; Picture of the situation before the conflict.

The beginning– an event or group of events directly leading to a conflict situation. It can grow out of exposure.

Development of action- the entire system of sequential deployment of that part of the event plan from beginning to end that guides the conflict. It can be calm or unexpected turns (vicissitudes).

Climax- the moment of the highest tension of the conflict is decisive for its resolution. After which the development of the action turns to the denouement.

The number of climaxes can be large. It depends on the storylines.

Denouement– an event that resolves a conflict. Most often, the ending and denouement coincide. In the case of an open ending, the denouement may recede. The denouement, as a rule, is juxtaposed with the beginning, echoing it with a certain parallelism, completing a certain compositional circle.

Conflict classification:

Solvable (limited by the scope of the work)

Unsolvable (eternal, universal contradictions)

Types of conflicts:

A) human and nature;

b) person and society;

V) man and culture

Ways to implement conflict in various types of literary works:

Often the conflict is fully embodied and exhausted in the course of the events depicted. It arises against the backdrop of a conflict-free situation, escalates and resolves as if before the eyes of the readers. This is the case in many adventure and detective novels. This is the case in most of the literary works of the Renaissance: in the short stories of Boccaccio, comedies and some tragedies of Shakespeare. For example, the emotional drama of Othello is entirely focused on the period of time when Iago weaved his devilish intrigue. The evil intent of the envious person is the main and only reason for the suffering of the protagonist. The conflict of the tragedy "Othello", for all its depth and tension, is transitory and local.

But it also happens differently. In a number of epic and dramatic works, events unfold against a constant background of conflict. The contradictions to which the writer draws attention exist here both before the events depicted begin, and during their course, and after their completion. What happened in the lives of the heroes acts as a kind of addition to the already existing contradictions. These can be both resolvable and unresolvable conflicts (Dostoevsky's "The Idiot", Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard") Stable conflict situations are inherent in almost most of the plots of realistic literature of the 19th-20th centuries.

With the phenomenon called conflict (from the Latin conflictus - collision), i.e. an acute contradiction that finds its way out and resolution in action, struggle, we are in Everyday life We meet all the time. Political, industrial, family and other types social conflicts of different scales and levels, sometimes taking away from people great amount physical, moral and emotional forces overwhelm our spiritual and practical world - whether we want it or not.

It often happens like this: we strive to avoid certain conflicts, remove them, “defuse” them, or at least soften their effect - but in vain! The emergence, development and resolution of conflicts depend not only on us: in every clash of opposites, at least two parties participate and fight, expressing different, and even mutually exclusive interests, pursuing goals that contradict each other, committing multidirectional and sometimes hostile actions. The conflict finds expression in the struggle between new and old, progressive and reactionary, social and antisocial; contradictions life principles and positions of people, social and individual consciousness, morality, etc.

A similar thing happens in literature. The development of the plot, the clash and interaction of characters taking place in constantly changing circumstances, the actions performed by the characters, i.e., in other words, the entire dynamics of the content of a literary work is based on artistic conflicts, which are ultimately a reflection and generalization of the social conflicts of reality. Without the artist’s understanding of current, burning, socially significant conflicts true art the word doesn't exist.

Artistic conflict, or artistic collision (from the Latin collisio - collision), is the confrontation of multidirectional forces operating in a literary work - social, natural, political, moral, philosophical - which receives ideological and aesthetic embodiment in artistic structure works as a contrast (opposition) of characters to circumstances, individual characters- or various sides of the same character - each other, themselves artistic ideas works (if they contain ideologically polar principles).

The artistic fabric of a literary work at all its levels is permeated with conflict: speech characteristics, the actions of the characters, the relationship of their characters, artistic time and space, the plot-compositional structure of the narrative contain conflicting pairs of images, connected to each other and constituting a kind of “network” of attractions and repulsions - the structural backbone of the work.

In the epic novel “War and Peace,” the Kuragin family (together with Scherer, Drubetsky, etc.) is the embodiment of high society - a world organically alien to Bezukhov, Bolkonsky, and Rostov. Despite all the differences between the representatives of these three noble families beloved by the author, they are equally hostile to the pompous formality, court intrigue, hypocrisy, falsehood, self-interest, spiritual emptiness, etc., flourishing at the imperial court. That is why the relationships between Pierre and Helen, Natasha and Anatole, Prince Andrei and Ippolit Kuragin, etc. are so dramatic and fraught with insoluble conflicts.

In a different semantic plane, the hidden conflict unfolds in the novel between the wise people's commander Kutuzov and the vain Alexander I, who mistook the war for a parade of a special kind. However, it is not at all by chance that Kutuzov loves and singles out Andrei Bolkonsky among the officers subordinate to him, and Emperor Alexander does not hide his antipathy towards him. At the same time, it is no coincidence that Alexander (like Napoleon in his time) “notices” Helen Bezukhova, honoring her with a dance at a ball on the day of the invasion of Napoleonic troops into Russia. Thus, tracing the chains of connections, “links” between the characters of Tolstoy’s work, we observe how all of them - with varying degrees of obviousness - are grouped around two semantic “poles” of the epic, forming the main conflict of the work - the people, the engine of history, and the king, "slave of history." In the author's philosophical and journalistic digressions, this highest conflict of the work is formulated with purely Tolstoyan categoricalness and directness. It is obvious that in terms of the degree of ideological significance and universality, in terms of its place in the artistic and aesthetic whole of the epic novel, this conflict is comparable only to the military conflict depicted in the work, which was the core of all events Patriotic War 1812. All the rest, private conflicts that reveal the plot and plot of the novel (Pierre - Dolokhov, Prince Andrei - Natasha, Kutuzov - Napoleon, Russian speech - French, etc.), are subordinated to the main conflict of the work and constitute a certain hierarchy of artistic conflicts .

Each literary work develops its own special multi-level system of artistic conflicts, which ultimately expresses the author’s ideological and aesthetic concept. In this sense, the artistic interpretation of social conflicts is more capacious and meaningful than their scientific or journalistic reflection.

IN " The captain's daughter Pushkin’s conflict between Grinev and Shvabrin over their love for Masha Mironova, which forms the visible basis of the romantic plot itself, fades into the background before the socio-historical conflict - Pugachev’s uprising. The main problem of Pushkin’s novel, in which both conflicts are refracted in a unique way, is the dilemma of two ideas about honor (the epigraph of the work is “Take care of honor from a young age”): on the one hand, the narrow framework of class-class honor (for example, the noble, officer oath of allegiance) ; on the other hand, the universal human values of decency, kindness, humanism (fidelity to one’s word, trust in a person, gratitude for good done, the desire to help in trouble, etc.). Shvabrin is dishonest even from the point of view of the noble code; Grinev rushes between two concepts of honor, one of which is imputed to his duty, the other is dictated by natural feeling; Pugachev turns out to be above the feeling of class hatred towards a nobleman, which would seem completely natural, and meets the highest requirements of human honesty and nobility, surpassing in this respect the narrator himself, Pyotr Andreevich Grinev.

The writer is not obliged to present the reader in a ready-made form with the future historical resolution of the things he depicts. social conflicts. Often such a resolution of socio-historical conflicts reflected in a literary work is seen by the reader in a semantic context unexpected for the writer. If the reader acts as literary critic, he can determine both the conflict and the method of resolving it much more accurately and far-sightedly than the artist himself. Thus, N. A. Dobrolyubov, analyzing the drama of A. N. Ostrovsky “The Thunderstorm”, was able to consider the most acute social contradiction throughout Russia - the “dark kingdom”, where, amid general humility, hypocrisy and silence, “tyranny” reigns supreme, the ominous apotheosis of which is autocracy, and where even the slightest protest is a “ray of light”.

The conflict is in literature - a clash between characters or between characters and the environment, a hero and fate, as well as a contradiction within the consciousness of a character or the subject of a lyrical statement. In a plot, the beginning is the beginning, and the denouement is the resolution or statement of the intractability of the conflict. Its character determines the originality of the aesthetic (heroic, tragic, comic) content of the work. The term “conflict” in literary criticism has supplanted and partially replaced the term “collision”, which G.E. Lessing and G.V.F. Hegel used as a designation sharp clashes, primarily characteristic of drama. Modern literary theory considers collisions to be either a plot form of manifestation of conflict, or its most global, historically large-scale variety. Large works, as a rule, contain many conflicts, but a certain main conflict, for example, in “War and Peace” (1863-69) by L.N. Tolstoy there is a conflict between the forces of good and the unity of people with the forces of evil and disunity, which, according to the writer, is positively resolved by life itself, its spontaneous flow. The lyrics are much less conflicting than the epic.A. G. Ibsen's experience prompted B. Shaw to reconsider the classical theory of drama. the main idea his essay "The Quintessence of Ibsenism" (1891) is that at the core modern play there should be a “discussion” (disputes between characters on issues of politics, morality, religion, art, serving as an indirect expression of the Angora’s beliefs) and a “problem”. In the 20th century, philosophy and aesthetics based on the concept of dialogue developed.

In Russia, these are primarily the works of M.M. Bakhtin. They also prove that statements about the universality of the conflict are too categorical. At the same time, totalitarian culture gave birth to the so-called “conflict-free theory” in the USSR in the 1940s, according to which in socialist reality the basis for real conflicts disappears and they are replaced by “conflicts between good and better.” This had a detrimental effect on post-war literature. But the massive criticism of the “theory of non-conflict”, inspired by J.V. Stalin in the early 1950s, was even more official. The latest theory In literature, the concept of conflict seems to be one of the discredited ones. The opinion is expressed that the associated concepts of exposition, plot, development of action, climax, denouement are fully applicable only to crime literature and only partially to drama, but the basis of the epic is not a conflict, but a situation (in Hegel, the situation develops into a collision) . However, there are different types conflicts. Along with those that are expressed in collisions and arise from randomly developing situations, literature reproduces the persistent conflict of existence, which often does not manifest itself in direct clashes between characters. Among the Russian classics, A.P. Chekhov constantly brought out this conflict - not only in plays, but also in stories and tales.

In literature? How does it manifest itself? Is it always possible to notice it even for an inexperienced reader? Conflicts in works of literature are a mandatory and necessary phenomenon for development storyline. Not a single high-quality book that can claim the title of eternal classic can do without it. Another thing is that we are not always able to see the obvious contradiction in the views of the character being described, or to deeply consider the system of his values and internal beliefs.

Sometimes understand the true literary masterpieces it can be difficult. This activity requires enormous mental effort, as well as the desire to understand the characters and the system of images built by the author. So, what is conflict in literature? Let's try to figure it out.

Definition of the concept

In most cases, people intuitively understand what we're talking about, when there is a conversation about some ideological clash in a particular book. Conflict in literature is the confrontation between the characters' characters and external reality. The fight in the fictional world can continue long time and necessarily leads to a change in the hero’s way of looking at the surrounding reality. Such tension can form within the character himself and be directed towards his own personality. Development similar move happens very often. And then they talk about internal conflict, that is, the struggle with oneself.

Conflicts in Russian literature

Domestic classics deserve special attention. Below are examples of conflicts in literature, taken from Russian works. Many will find them familiar from the times school curriculum. What books should you pay attention to?

"Anna Karenina"

The greatest monument of Russian literature, which does not lose its relevance today. Almost everyone knows the plot of Anna Karenina. But not every person can immediately determine what the main experiences of the heroine are. Thinking about what conflict is in literature, you can remember this wonderful work.

Anna Karenina shows a dual conflict. It is he who does not allow the main character to come to her senses and look differently at the circumstances of her own life. The foreground depicts an external conflict: society’s rejection of relationships on the side. It is he who alienates the heroine from people (friends and acquaintances) with whom it was so easy to interact before. But besides him there is also internal conflict: Anna is literally crushed by this unbearable burden that she has to bear. She suffers from separation from her son Seryozha, she has no right to take the child with her to new life with Vronsky. All these experiences create a strong tension in the heroine’s soul, from which she cannot free herself.

"Oblomov"

Another unforgettable work of Russian classical literature, which is worthy of talking about. “Oblomov” shows the secluded life of one landowner, who at one time decided to refuse service in the department and devote his life to solitude. The character himself is quite interesting. He does not want to live according to the pattern imposed by society, and at the same time does not find the strength to fight. Staying in inaction and apathy further undermines him from the inside. The hero's conflict with the outside world is manifested in the fact that he does not see the point of living like most people: going to work every day, performing actions that in his opinion are meaningless.

A passive lifestyle is his defensive reaction against the incomprehensible surrounding world. The book shows an ideological conflict, since it is based on an understanding of the essence and meaning of human existence. Ilya Ilyich does not feel strong enough to change his life.

"Idiot"

This work is one of the most famous by F. M. Dostoevsky. The Idiot depicts an ideological conflict. Prince Myshkin is very different from the society in which he finds himself. He is laconic, has extreme sensitivity, which is why he experiences any events acutely.

The rest of the characters contrast him with their behavior and outlook on life. Prince Myshkin's values are based on the Christian understanding of good and evil, on his desire to help people.

Conflicts in foreign literature

Foreign classics are no less entertaining than domestic ones. Conflicts in foreign literature sometimes they are presented in such a broad way that one can only admire these masterfully written works. What examples can be given here?

"Romeo and Juliet"

A unique play by William Shakespeare, which every self-respecting person must have become familiar with at one time or another. The book shows love conflict, gradually turning into tragedy. Two families - the Montagues and the Capulets - have been at war with each other for many years.

Romeo and Juliet resist parental pressure, trying to defend their right to love and happiness.

"Steppenwolf"

This is one of Hermann Hesse's most memorable novels. Main character- Harry Haller - cut off from society. He chose for himself the life of an unapproachable and proud loner because he cannot find something for himself in it. suitable place. The character calls himself a “steppe wolf” who accidentally wandered into the city among the people. Haller's conflict is ideological and lies in the inability to accept the rules and regulations of society. The surrounding reality appears to him as a picture devoid of meaning.

Thus, when answering the question of what conflict is in literature, one should definitely take into account inner world Main character. The worldview of one character is very often contrasted with the surrounding society.