Similarities Between Hamlet And The Lion King

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Many compare the mere Disney movie The Lion King with the great shakespearean work Hamlet. It is commonly believed that The Lion King portrays itself as a remake of Hamlet. From an quick overlook of the two works, I cannot help but agree that they do in fact hold similarities. The common misconception that The Lion King was a remake of Hamlet typically derives from the identical plot found between both works. Although that may be true, it must be remembered that there is more to a story than the plot. Viewing both works in terms of character development, tone, motive, theme, and more, the two greatly differ. Within both works, the main characters’ fathers reaches out to them in a ghostly or spiritual manner but for very different reasons. In The Lion King, Simba runs away from his homeland and later on was lead to a spiritual version of his father. In this scene, Mufasa’s spirit persuades Simba to return to his homeland and rightly take the throne. The spirit fails to mention anything about Mufasa’s death or that Simba should murder his Uncle Scar. In Hamlet, a ghost of Hamlet’s father reaches out to him in order to inform Hamlet that his brother Claudius murdered him through poison. The purpose behind the ghost in Hamlet’s appearance was to convince Hamlet to avenge his father’s death and ensure that justice is served.The ghost explains to Hamlet how his father had died and attempted to persuade Hamlet to avenge his death (Hamlet 1.5 14-116). “Let not the royal bed of