ABSTRACT
The focal and most arresting image of tragic conflict is of conflict between virtues, where one caught in such a conflict must choose between terrible alternatives imposed by the virtues themselves. The opposition between good and evil pales before the demands of opposed ethical imperatives. Agamemnon, between the virtues of fatherhood and of kingship, must watch his army die or kill his daughter. This direct opposition of virtues confronting a single individual is only one of the possibilities of tragic conflict; but it is basic, and for the most part I will use it as exemplar.
