A dysfunctional family is a family where there is conflict, neglect, misbehavior, or abuse that occur regularly. There are many examples of this in King Lear. Within the Lear’s family and Gloucester’s, there are internal and external battles that have to be dealt with. In King Lear, Shakespeare displays the dysfunction in the two families and the consequences and results it brings.
Intra-family tensions are caused by many different things. A small conflict could potentially cause a bigger conflict to happen like in King Lear. When Cordelia refused to flatter her father, he instantly became furious and disowned her. Cordelia said: “Happily, when I shall wed, that lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry half my love with him, half my care and duty. Sure I shall never marry like my sisters, to love my father all.” (Scene 1, Act 1, 104-110). Lear’s decision created many other problems. After he divided the kingdom between Goneril and Regan, they took advantage of him because he no longer had power. Intra-family tensions are often created from people overreacting and blowing the situation out of proportion. The small conflict between…show more content… When people overreact to things, they can make impulsive decisions which will hurt family members in the long run. When Lear banished Cordelia, his other two daughters betrayed him which led to his downfall and his kingdom suffered from it too. Gloucester believed Edmund’s story without any evidence and immediately turned on Edgar. King Lear did not realize how much Cordelia actually loved him and because of her refusal to flatter him, he disowned her. Gloucester is emotionally blind to towards his two sons because he is not aware of who his children really are. Gloucester acts as a foil to King Lear because their families mirror each other. They both suffer from pain inflicted by members of their