[Dramatic conflict is] the spectacle of the will striving toward a goal, and conscious of the means which it employs. -- Ferdinand Brunetière

Conflict is the heart of drama.

The Greek word agon means "contest" or "struggle," and could be applied to a sporting event or a debate. (Compare protagonist and antagonist.)

Brunetière describes several different kinds of conflict:

• the individual vs. fatality (that is, a fight for survival)
• the individual vs. social law (justice, morality, etc.)
• the individual vs. another person
• the individual vs. himself
• the individual vs. "the ambitions, the interests, the prejudices, the folly, the malevolence of those who surround him"

See also: "Crisis vs. Conflict"

• Ferdinand Brunetière. The Law of the Drama. Trans. Philip M. Hayden. New York: Columbia University, 1914.
• Lawson, John Howard. Theory and Technique of Playwrighting. New York: Hill and Wang, 1969. Reprint. Putnam, 1936.