A Cornelian dilemma (choix cornélien) (also spelt in translation with two "l"'s i.e "Corneillian") is a dilemma in which someone is obliged to choose between two courses of action either of which will have a detrimental effect on himself or herself or on someone near to him or her. In classical drama, this will typically involve the protagonist's experiencing an inner conflict which forces him to choose between love and honour or inclination and duty.
The Cornelian dilemma is named after French dramatist Pierre Corneille, in whose play Le Cid (1636) the protagonist, Rodrigue, is torn between two desires: that of the love of Chimène, or avenging his family, who have been wronged by Chimène's father. Rodrigue can either seek revenge and lose the love of his beloved, or renounce revenge and lose his honour: thus embodying the Corneilian Dilemma.
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“Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God’s property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)