(from the Greek dilemma, double choice) a situation in which the protagonist is forced to choose between two contradictory and equally unacceptable solutions. "A violent state in which one finds oneself between two pressing and diametrically opposed interests, between two imperious passions that tear us apart and do not permit us to decide, or at least only very painfully" (MORVAN DE BELLEGARDE 1702, on le Cid)., caught between two excruciating choices, a character must have or do something for powerful reasons, and yet can’t have or do it for equally powerful reasons. Both sides are right, or wrong. When you present a character with a fork in the road and force him to take a path, like having to choose between love and duty, marriage and career, or ambition and sacrifice, it creates curiosity, anticipation, and uncertainty in the reader, who waits at the edge of his seat for the character to make that difficult choice. (Iglesias, K. 2005, p. 66)