How is conflict dramatically represented in King Lear?

One way in which conflict is presented in this excellent
tragedy is through the storm that rages throughout Act III as Lear wanders around on the
heath. This storm could symbolically represent a number of different aspects of
conflict. Of course, primarily it could be argued to represent the conflict and inner
turmoil that Lear himself is experiencing. Note how at the beginning of Act III scene 2,
Lear appeals to the storm to become stronger and destroy all in its
path:

Blow,
winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!

You cataracts and
hurricanes, spout

Till you have drenched our steeples,
drowned the cocks!

.... Strike flat the thick rotundity o'
the world!

Crack nature's moulds, all germens spill at
once

That makes ingrateful
man!

This clearly represents
the inner conflict within Lear as he tries to reconcile the way that he has been treated
with his increasing loss of control as madness sets in and his own guilt at the way that
he exiled his one true daughter.

However, note too how it
could be said to reflect the conflict that is tearing Lear's kingdom apart. The storm
reflects the "division" that is evident in the kindom that Kent alludes to when he talks
to the Gentleman in Act III scene 1.