English Literature KS3 / GCSE: Conflict in Shakespeare

Narrator:
Conflict comes in many shapes and sizes. It’s there as we wrestle with our conscience over a difficult dilemma. It’s there when we stand up for what we believe in, and it can lead to punch-ups and all out warfare.

Conflict is tricky and handled badly it can have appalling consequences, which Shakespeare shows in many of his tragedies.

In Julius Caesar, Brutus has a conflict of loyalty.

His great friend Caesar is likely to be made King of Rome but Brutus is worried that if he gets the job, the power will go straight to Caesar’s head and he’ll get dangerous.

Brutus:
‘I know no personal cause to spun at him,
but for the general. He would be crown’d:-
how might that change his nature, there’s the question.’

Narrator:
Brutus loves his friend, but he loves his country even more – and after huge inner conflict he helps to kill Caesar.

The crime is terrible, but as it becomes clear that loyalty led Brutus to do the deed – he’s declared a good, noble man, who put his country, and its people, first.

Marcus Antonius:
‘This was the noblest Roman of them all:
all the conspirators, save only he,
did that they did in envy of great Caesar.’

Narrator:
In Macbeth, there’s inner conflict of the moral kind.

Lord Macbeth wants to be king, for the power and glamour that goes with it, and thinks the only way to get there is by killing King Duncan. Morally though, he knows it’s wrong. Duncan trusts him, has recently handed him a title and comes to stay at Macbeth’s house.

Macbeth:
‘He’s here in double trust:
first I am his kinsman and his subject,
strong both against the deed; then as his host,
who should against his murderer shut the door,

Narrator:
Deep in his heart, Macbeth knows King Duncan is a good king and a good man who definitely doesn’t deserve to die.

Macbeth:
‘His virtues will plead like angels, trumpet tongued, against the deep damnation of
His taking off’

Narrator:
So, Macbeth is in turmoil. His greed and ambition are fighting against his morals – and he knows that if he kills Duncan, he’ll win the throne but he’ll lose part of himself, and his integrity, forever. (Actually he does kill him… and loses everything)

Conflict is a tricky one, and can get plain vicious.

In Othello, an army officer - Iago – doesn’t get the promotion he thinks he deserves. Rather than take it on the chin, he sets off on a conflict of jealousy – determined to ruin both his boss Othello and Othello’s friend Cassio who got the job. Nice.

Othello is an older, black man, married to a young, white Desdomona. Bad-boy Iago starts by stirring it up with Desdemona’s Dad, implying Othello is a dodgy, old man who has stolen his daughter.

Iago:
‘Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white yew.’

Narrator:
When these filthy tactics don’t work, Iago starts making out that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. That way he hopes Othello could lose a wife and a friend all in one go.

Iago:
‘And nothing can, or shall content my soul
til I am even’d with him, wife, for wife.
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
at least into a jealousy so strong
that judgement cannot cure.’

Narrator:
Iago’s foul and jealous plotting does work eventually. Othello, convinced his wife is being unfaithful, kills her, realises he’s murdered an innocent woman and kills himself.

Conflict can be sorted – but Shakespeare demonstrates that when it’s not sorted well, chaos can reign. Jealousy rips relationships and families apart – like Othello’s. A conflict of loyalty, as Brutus had over Caesar, can rip countries apart and Macbeth, when he lost the battle with his morals, lost everything. Pure tragedy.