Both stories are of a young male character who is distraught by the early death of his father. An uncle takes the rightful place to the young princes' thrown, and both princes have to overcome their own doubts for the good of their home. Even from the very opening scene we can see the parallels between the two main characters. Simba, in The Lion King nearly embodies Hamlet. They are both the rightful heir to the thrown being son of the king.
Could he expose Claudius' actions to everyone and so he serves his rightful punishment? Many different methods could have been used to restore justice in Denmark instead of getting revenge. Not only could he reveal his uncle, but also his mother that he discovers problematic. He does indeed finally kill his uncle after his mother has been poisoned, but only becomes the king long enough to label his replacement as he is dying at the time he slayed Claudius. This great play was a tragedy; but Hamlet had an opportunity to seek justice and finally become king himself.
By the time he became king, he was so paranoid about the people around him that he could not even enjoy being the king. Banquo is Macbeth’s right hand man and he too was there when the three witches prophesied that Macbeth would be king. They told him that although he would not be king, his son would start a long line of rulers. Macbeth kills Banquo because he is nervous that he will tell the others about him becoming king. In the end, the sons of the old king and Macduff, enemy of Macbeth, join forces to defeat Macbeth and take the throne.
The dead king’s sons (Simba and Hamlet), the protagonists, despise the kings and do not really know what they had to do with their father’s death. With the boosting help of an outside force they take up the courage to confront and successfully vow their father’s revenge. The ghost motive plays a key role in both stories, when the spiritual form of the protogonist’s dead fathers appear, but there are differences. In Hamlet, Hamlet’s father reveals that it was Claudius who killed him. In The Lion King, Mufasa convinces Simba to reclaim the kingdom.
This is clear when Edmund plots against his own father; Gloucester and half-brother; Edgar to get hold of his father’s property. All of the efforts he put to destroy the relationship between Gloucester and his legitimate son, Edgar reveals his jealous envious, vengeful, and ambitious character. He could not handle the injustice in the society and he wanted to change his position in his life. He was envious, jealous, and vengeful from his half- brother, Edgar. Envious because Edgar was the legitimate son of Gloucester that everyone in the society accepted him as who he is.
As he was planning his invasion of Denmark, he did not factor in what could happen if his uncle found out. Claudius, realizing the flaw in Fortinbras’ attack, uses his authority as king to notify his uncle of his nephew’s agenda. Later in the play when Hamlet inquires about Fortinbras’ invasion of Poland, he states, “The imminent death of twenty thousand men, that for a fantasy and trick of fame.” With this line, Hamlet set out to portray to the audience a man who merely thinks about his well being and satisfaction instead of the consequences brought upon everyone else who is involved. Shakespeare repeatedly shows how rash Fortinbras is and thus foreshadows what he will do later on in the play. In the play, Hamlet is conquered by his thought.
Hamlet’s father tells him that he must get revenge on his uncle for him; he wants Hamlet to kill Claudius. Hamlet promises his beloved father that he will do whatever it takes to make sure Claudius lives no more, but as he will find out it is not as easy as it seems. Many philosophers have come up with different reasons to why they think that the main character, Hamlet, delays in killing Claudius. S. T. Coleridge came up with the solution that Hamlet was incapable of killing Claudius because he thought about the action too much (Coleridge). Hamlet over analyzed everything he did from the time he first saw his father’s ghost, until the time he had finally got around to doing he deed he promised his father.
Who Fears Who? In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, Hamlet tries to have justice served with the death of his father. Claudius –Hamlet’s uncle—killed his brother in order to obtain the crown. Hamlet is put in a position where he needs to decide of killing his evil uncle is worth it, and Shakespeare makes a biblical argument. In Matthew10:29 it says “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
In The Lion King the theme of revenge is shown through the actions of Simba who returns to defeat Scar and avenge his father’s death by taking revenge on Scar. The theme of revenge is also a driving factor of the plot in the film as it initiates Simba's return. Simba is also visited by his father’s ghost who establishes the theme and desire for revenge in Simba, and presents it as a theme in the film. The characters in The Lion King and Hamlet are erringly similar to each other but Hamlet and Simba posses the most similarities. In Hamlet, Hamlet is the protagonist of the story and is unaware of how his
Hamlet and The Lion King When Disney created The Lion King, people argued that it was created in the image of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both stories are of a young man who is emotionally and physically tormented over the early departure of their fathers. The “uncle” then takes the throne that should have initially gone to the son by which he earned as a birth right. It is documented, but often disputed, that Hamlet was written around the time of 1602; the play because published in 1624. This is many years and decades away from the time The Lion King was released (1994); taken away the fact that one is animated with a herd of African wildlife and the other with humans, they seem to mimic each other in the message within the stories.