Question

Which line in this excerpt from act V of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet shows the conflict of person versus self?
APOTHECARY: Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law
Is death to any he that utters them.

ROMEO: Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes,
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back;
The world is not thy friend nor the world's law;
The world affords no law to make thee rich;
Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.

APOTHECARY: My poverty, but not my will, consents.

ROMEO: I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.

APOTHECARY: Put this in any liquid thing you will,
And drink it off; and, if you had the strength
Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight.

ROMEO: There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls,
Doing more murders in this loathsome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.
Farewell: buy food, and get thyself in flesh.
Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
To Juliet's grave; for there must I use thee.

Answer 1

APOTHECARY: My poverty, but not my will, consents.

Answer 2

My poverty, but not my will, consents.

In this line from the Apothecary, he is showing that he is giving Romeo the drug because he needs the money, not because he thinks it's a good idea. An internal conflict is one in which the character must make a difficult decision. Usually either way the character decides there is a positive and negative consequence. In this case, the apothecary knows that if he gives Romeo the drug someone will die and he's broken the law. However, by giving Romeo the drug, he will have enough money to buy food to eat. If he doesn't sell Romeo drug, he will still be hungry and starving. Either way his decision has negative consequences making this an internal conflict.