Storyboarding is an excellent way to focus on types of literary conflict. Have your students choose an example of each literary conflict and depict them using the storyboard creator. In the storyboard, an example of each conflict should be visually represented, along with an explanation of the scene, and how it fits the particular category of conflict.
The narrator struggles to resist the awful ticking of the dead man's heart that haunts him.
The narrator must lie to the police, and cover up the murder.
The narrator obsesses over the old man’s eye, eventually killing him for it.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that shows at least three forms of literary conflict in “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
Begin by explaining the different types of conflicts to the student. The most basic distinction is the internal vs. External conflict. Within these categories, there are other types as well. Give students some examples from each type so they are well-familiarized with identifying different conflicts.
Consider the causes of the characters' disputes. Recognize the causes of their internal unrest or their conflicts with outside powers. Think about their hopes, fears, principles, and objectives. Ask the students to think out loud and list down these motivations as they will be later used to identify conflicts.
To start, ask the students to determine the particular sorts of conflicts that are present in the narrative. Determine which characters are going through internal turmoil and what forces they are battling from the outside. For instance, in Tell-Tale Heart the conflict of character vs. Character, character vs. self, and character vs. society are more dominant.
Think about the connections between the internal and external conflicts. Do the character's internal conflicts affect how they handle problems from the outside? Does fighting on the outside make their internal problems worse? Look for connections between causes and effects. For instance, In Tell-Tale Heart, somehow the conflict that the narrator had with himself was linked with his conflict with society and his desperate need for people to believe in his sanity.
The story's primary motivating factor is the narrator's internal turmoil. His fascination and obsession with the elderly man's eye and his conviction that it is "vulture-like" causes him to become more anxious and paranoid. The old man's murder serves as the final resolution to this. It also sheds some light on the type of character vs. self conflicts that can drive madness in a person.
The story's main external conflict is between the narrator and the elderly guy. The old man's eye becomes the narrator's fixation, and his conviction that it is malicious and judgmental causes him to want to get rid of this source of discomfort, which finally leads to the murder. Another external conflict in the story is that of the narrator vs. society. The society believes the narrator to be insane whereas, the narrator wants society to believe in his sanity which in turn drives him more insane.