Comparison Of Hamlet And Simba Essay

Hamlet and Simba

Disneys The Lion King placed a childrens faade on a very serious story of responsibility and revenge. However its based on one of the oldest plays in history The Tragedy of Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. The basic character prototypes are obscured; the storyline is shortened for kids. But with a closer scrutiny of the characters themselves and the storylines, the readers can see just how ostensive these similarities are. because of experiencing similar situations, Hamlet and Simba react quite similarly to the circle of life, the presence of an evil uncle, and a visit from a ghost.

One of the similarities is circle of life. In both Hamlet and The Lion King, they talk about circle of life. In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Hamlet answers king Claudius upon asking a question where is the dead body of Polonius, Hamlet explains how man dies, warms eats the man, fish eats the worms, and a new man eats the fish. correspondingly Mufasa tells Simba when a lion dies the lion turns into grass, the antelope eats the grass, and a new lion eats the antelope.

Another similarity in both pieces The Tragedy of Hamlet and The Lion King, the ghost of the father comes in the play. In Hamlet, king Hamlet comes to prince Hamlet and tells him that the rightful heir is not on the throne. In The Lion King, Mufasa's ghost comes to Simba and tells him the exact same thing. In both cases the dead fathers tell their sons that something is amiss. also both of the ghost told their sons to remember. Both sons seek to claim their rightful places after some nudging from their fathers and best friends ( Horatio and Nala, who endorse that Hamlet and Simba are the equitable kings).

At the final scenes, the evil uncles attempt to follow through with killing their nephews. In Hamlet, Claudius attempts to poison Hamlet just as he poisoned King hamlet. In The Lion King, Scar again tries to push Simba off of the cliff, the same way he killed Mufasa. however, neither of these attempts work. Finally, it is none other than the uncles' right-handed men that denounce them to death. Laertes turns on Claudius, telling Hamlet that it was Claudius who used the poison. The Hyenas turn on Scar, doing him in after years of loyal service. Finally, Claudius is killed by Hamlet, and Scar is killed by Simba. In the end , the rightful king is restored to Elsinor ( Fortinbras) and to the Pridelands ( Simba).

With all the similarities between the two pieces of work is one vital difference between the two works, and that is The Lion King ends in victory, while Hamlet, to the contrary is tragedy. Simba rids the kingdom of his evil uncle and reclaims his rightful throne, while the circle of life is completed again. As for Hamlet considering the greatest tragedy ever written, the hero of the play dies, it ends in treason. But even with a different ending, there is a resemblance: the future of the kingdom. Both Hamlet and Simba ensure the renewal of their kingdoms, and they do so by assuming their lawful roles: rightful king and avenging son. by doing so, they free their kingdoms from evil's grasp.