The Lion King and Hamlet Essay
Uploaded by lordvador81 on May 27, 2008
The Lion King & Hamlet - Comparative Essay
“All it takes for Evil to prevail in this world is for good men to do nothing.” Disney’s The Lion King placed a children’s façade on a very serious story of responsibility and revenge. This theme, however, is one of the oldest in history, and while it is not the most apparent, it does exist by William Shakespeare. The Lion King seems not to be based on a fairytale, but rather on the Tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The basic character archetypes are concealed, and the storyline is simplified for children. But with a closer inspection of the characters themselves and the storyline, we the seasoned readers, can see just how apparent these similarities are.
The story of The Lion King closely parallels that of Hamlet. It is about the jealousy of an uncle named Scar towards his nephew, Simba, who is the son of the king, and rightful heir to the throne. This jealousy drives him to take drastic action to secure himself to the throne. The only way he can do this is to kill his brother, King Mufasa and Simba. He accomplishes this by killing Mufasa and goes on to become the King of the Pride Lands and leader of the pack, thus “marrying” Simba’s mother, Sarobi. After the plan that Scar puts into action is completed, Scar finds his plan was only half successful; Simba survives. However, the clever, smooth talking uncle tricks the young and susceptible Simba into thinking that he is responsible for his father’s death. Similarly In Hamlet (which is also based upon the jealousy of a king’s brother, Claudius), Hamlet Senior is poisoned by Claudius, who then ascends to the throne and marries Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. The poison makes the king look like he died in his sleep naturally. Like the young Simba who is weak because of his young age, Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play is powerless to take the throne because of his absence. Another plot similarity presents itself between the movie and the play. When Simba is convinced that he caused his father’s death, his uncle tells him to “run away and never return”. In doing so, he allows his uncle to rule as king without disruption. Hamlet, as well, lets his uncle hold the throne without interlude; he does this by...