Lion King And Hamlet Comparison

Shakespeare is one of the world's all-time greatest writers, famous for his tragedies. Many of his stories have been adapted and remade into different things, mainly for movies. One company that does this is Disney, which is known for its animated kids movies. One such instance was the making of The Lion King, which was based on one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Hamlet. The opening song, Circle of Life, has many nods to the original play, such as “There’s far too much to take in here”, representing Hamlet’s mental issues. Another lyric, “Through the sapphire sky, keeps great and small on the endless round,” is a nod to Shakespeare's work as a whole as he often has people die in his plays. While there are obvious nods to the original,

The easiest comparison to draw between the two movies is that between Hamlet versus Simba, and Claudius versus Scar. Hamlet and Simba are both very similar. With both of them being the story of the main character. Other examples of this include that they are both princes of a large kingdom, they both have a father who was murdered by their jealous uncle, that same uncle tried to kill them both, and they both are visited by their dead fathers. In their story, both characters are also used to show the effects of grief on a person. However, there are still some major discrepancies between the two characters. One such example is the age at which their father died. In Hamlet, Hamlet is an adult when his father dies and his uncle takes control. While in The Lion King, Simba is only a young cub when his father is murdered. Another difference is that Hamlet left the kingdom before his father died and returned for the whole time his uncle ruled. The Lion King, however, depicted young Simba running away from the kingdom because he thought his father's death was his

Even though both characters have their differences, they are still noticeably similar. Disney's decision to alter the character of Hamlet is understandable, as kids often respond better to things happening to young people in movies. The decision also allowed them to not traumatize kids by having the main character of their movie go around killing people. Shakespeare's purpose for Hamlet was much different and was intended for more mature audiences. His character was meant to showcase how grief and vengeance can affect people. Another key difference between the characters is that between Hamlet and Simba’s uncles, Claudius and Scar. In the story both men are to be seen as villains with both having killed their brother over jealousy, taking over the kingdom, trying to kill their nephew, and being killed at the end of the story. However, there are still major differences between them. One of the biggest differences is that of their