It has been said by many intelligent and informed people that Walt Disney's The Lion King is a children's version of Shakespeare's Hamlet. There are certainly many parallels between the two stories, and even in the actual dialogue. Both are the story of a young man who is torn apart by the early demise of his father and both stories have an uncle that takes over the thrown that should rightly belong to both of the young prince’s. The similarities between the storylines and the ways they are portrayed, especially on screen, are incredible. The three biggest parallels of the stories are the presence of death images and symbolism, the actions of the secondary characters, and the development of the tragic hero.
"The Lion King" The moral of the movie "The Lion King" is "Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you"(Quotes). The movie tells about a young lion prince, named Simba, who has a tragic accident as a cub and turns his back on his past and where he came from. The story begins with simba just being born and his kingdom bowing with respect for him and his parents, Mufasa and Sarabi. Simba being born made his uncle, Scar, second in line to recieve the throne and this angered his uncle very much.
Young Fortinbras did this through asserting himself and his military to action, and invading the then troubled Denmark. Despite Hamlet’s passive contemplation, he too avenged his father’s murder by stabbing Claudius and forcing him to gulp down a glass of poisoned wine. Both Young Hamlet and Young Fortinbras sought vengeance for their fathers’ untimely deaths, but had contrasting motives and completely opposite plans of action. Fortinbras' father, King of Norway, was killed during battle for control of “a little patch of ground”(4.4, 19). Fortinbras’ uncle claims the throne of Norway just as Claudius took the throne in Denmark, and linked the common destiny between Young Fortinbras and Hamlet in their attempt for vengeance of their fathers’ deaths.
They are both the rightful heir to the thrown being son of the king. Unfortunately, each prince have a wicked uncle who longed for the throne. To gain the thrown, Claudius poisoned Hamlet Sr. and then marries hamlets mother Gertrude. Likewise, Scar throws Mufasa to his death to become leader of the pack, hence “marrying” Simba's mother Sarobi. At the same time, Hamlet Jr. is absent
The movie, The Lion King, and the play, Hamlet, both have a similar story lines. In both stories, the king is killed by their brother and revenge is sought by the king’s son, later on in the stories. The murderer in the stories was caused by the king’s brothers who want the power of the throne so bad that they killed their only
And the last similarity, though not in exact description, is Amleth/Hamlet killing his uncle, the king. Now that you know the similarities, let’s move on to the differences. The first difference between the two stories is that in Hamlet, Hamlet sees the ghost of his dead father, and tells Hamlet that his uncle, who is now king, was the one who killed him. He also orders him to seek the revenge of his murder and to kill his uncle. Hamlet obviously agrees to this and sets out to follow the ghost’s demands.
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
In Lion King Simba is chosen to be the next king over his uncle Scar, when Mufasa (the current king) is killed Simba is next in line to take over. Scar, wanting to become the next king, and tells Simba that it is his fault that Mufasa died when it was really Scar's fault. This causes Simba to leave Pride Rock based on Scar's advice. Scar sends his hyena army to kill Simba to permanently get rid of him, but Simba escapes and is driven far away from pride rock. He decides later that he needs to return and fight Scar for all his past wrong doings and take over as king.
In the end, both Scar and Claudius end up dying the same way as they killed their brother. Both of their right hand man ends up turning on them. Laertes tells Hamlet that Claudius was the one who poisoned Old King Hamlet. In The Lion King the Hyenas turn on Scar after bringing him in and giving loyal services for many of years. It is very ironic yet fitting for these two villainous characters the way it turns out for both of
Both characters had such a connection to their father, which is why they were able to see the deception and trickery behind the murder of the two rulers. In Hamlet, it was the ghost of King Hamlet who revealed his murder to Prince Hamlet. In the Lion King, Mufasa also appears to Simba in the form of a ghost to give him insight on how to save the kingdom. The death of Scar and Claudius are both ironic. Both of the villains die in the way they killed their brothers.