The Four Types of Conflict in Literature and the Vedic Astrology Chart

There is much of interest written of the main plot types in fiction of the West, a subject worthy of a dissertation.

Belying a divisive, atomistic, and surgical mindset towards works of art, academics tell us that four types of conflict occur in fiction:

Conflict is the essence of fiction. It creates plot. The conflicts we encounter can usually be identified as one of four kinds.

Man versus Man: Conflict that pits one person against another.

Man versus Nature: A run-in with the forces of nature. On the one hand, it expresses the insignificance of a single human life in the cosmic scheme of things. On the other hand, it tests the limits of a person’s strength and will to live.

Man versus Society: The values and customs by which everyone else lives are being challenged. The character may come to an untimely end as a result of his or her own convictions. The character may, on the other hand, bring others around to a sympathetic point of view, or it may be decided that society was right after all.

Man versus Self: Internal conflict. Not all conflict involves other people. Sometimes people are their own worst enemies. An internal conflict is a good test of a character’s values. Does he give in to temptation or rise above it? Does he demand the most from himself or settle for something less? Does he even bother to struggle?

The internal conflicts of a character and how they are resolved are good clues to the character’s inner strength. Often, more than one kind of conflict is taking place at the same time. In every case, however, the existence of conflict enhances the reader’s understanding of a character and creates the suspense and interest that make you want to continue reading.

Are not these represented by the four kendra?

First house:  Man versus Self

The first house is the self.

Fourth house: Man versus Nature

The fourth house is the mother, the ground, the home.

Seventh house: Man versus Man

The seventh house is the other in which we must forge relationship.

Tenth house: Man versus Society

The tenth house is how we walk through the world publicly.

The kendra are where conscious action in the chart lay and hence may be where we would expect “conflict” in the native’s life to occur, i.e., where drama is that propels the story line of the person’s life.

This is just another quick post to suggest that so much that occupies Western academe is synthesized in the unification of space-time that is Jyotisha.