Comparative analysis: Hamlet and The Lion King

Hamlet is a 1990 drama film based on a tragic play with the same name, written by William Shakespeare. On the other side The Lion King is an animated musical movie. Walt Disney Pictures released the movie in 1994. As the movie Hamlet, The Lion King was also influenced by Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Both the movies are about revenging the death of a cherished family member but in different ways.

Since a long time the idea of revenge has existed in our human nature. It has been our instinct to take back for a person that has been hurt. Today we find that many literary works uses revenge as a theme for the plot but how it is shown depends from a character to another. Hamlet and The Lion King are two superb examples.

In the castle of Elsinore in Denmark, prince Hamlet sees his father’s ghost. Through the ghost Hamlet learns that his own brother, Claudius, who wants the thrown to Denmark had murdered his father and married his dead brothers wife, the queen Gertrude. The spirit tells Hamlet to, “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.25 Shakespeare) and Hamlet obeys the spirit’s wishes. He then begins to seek more evidence on Claudius and his betrayal towards his brother. Hamlet enters into a deep melancholy and appears to be in madness, which makes Claudius and Gertrude worry about his erratic behavior. They employ Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to watch over him and to discover the cause of his madness. While on the other hand the arrogant Lord Chamberlain, Polonius suggests that Hamlet may have become mad in love for his daughter Ophelia. However, Hamlet insults Ophelia telling her that he does not love her and that it would be for the best if she enters a nunnery.

Hamlet assures his mother that he is “not in madness, but in craft” (3.4.190 Shakespeare) meaning that is playing to be mad. Still, he kills Polonius believing that it is Claudius and is sent in exile to England by the orders of the king. However, the king had given a sealed letter to his friends. The letter was to be delivered to the king of England, ordering him to kill Hamlet. Still, hamlet being one step ahead changes the letters so that his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are killed instead. While Hamlet still being in England, Ophelia goes mad due to her father’s death and commits suicide. Hamlet returns during her funeral and gives the king a surprise. A few days later Claudius wants Hamlet to have a duel with Laertes, Ophelia’s brother. Though what Hamlet does not know is that the duel is a plan to kill him plotted by Claudius and Laertes. Yet, the queen drinks the poisoned wine and both Hamlet and Laertes get cut by the poisoned sword tip. Laertes relieves the truth to Hamlet about the plan and poison. Hamlet then kills Claudius and dies himself. Everyone dies.

The Lion King has many parallels to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet for example the theme, characters and some moments of the plot. It is a family relative that kills the king, the prince is exiled to death, and the queen stays while not knowing the truth until at the end and does not have much power compared to the king.

The animated movie has a serious storyline, which is about responsibilities and revenge. Mufasa rules over his kingdom with peace and a few worries in the pride lands of Africa. As goes for Hamlet’s father Hamlet senior who had also been the king of Denmark. They, Mufasa and Hamlet senior were both great kings who were respected and loved. Their death had been similar as it was their own brother that had killed both. Claudius killed the former king of Denmark, and Scar; the jealous brother of Mufasa had killed Mufasa. They both appear as spirits to their sons, Hamlet and Simba, Mufasa’s son. However, how they appear and what they say is completely different. As said earlier Hamlet senior has appeared to Hamlet telling him to kill his murderer, Claudius, to take revenge. Mufasa on the other hand, appeared to Simba telling him, “…Remember who you are, you are my son and the one true king. Remember who you are. Remember. Remember… ”(The Lion King, movie). Mufasa did no tell Simba the truth that it was Scar that had killed him. He did not tell him directly what do but rather indirectly; to take back the kingdom and to restore the peace that once was. Simba is very much like Hamlet. They are both sons of wrongfully murdered kings. Both of them delay their revenge. Hamlet does this knowingly while Simba runs away from his problems rather than facing them. He runs away because Scar says, “run away Simba, and never return”(The Lion King, movie) and that it was his fault that his father had died. Simba still being a young cub believes Scar. Simba runs into the jungle believing that no one would want him after what he had done. What Simba did not know was that Scar had ordered the Hyenas to kill Simba while he was running away to the jungle but the Hyenas did not complete their job due to laziness. This shows similarities with Hamlet as Claudius had also ordered the British king to kill Hamlet while he was sent in exile to England but that did not either go as planed.

While being in the jungle, Simba come across Pumbaa and Timon, who becomes his friend and are supposed to illustrate Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet. Despite that, Pumbaa and Timon are a “nicer” version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They become Simbas true friends and they teach him about “Hakauna Matata” which means “no worries”. This leads Simba into abandoning all forms of responsibility until when he gets older and his dead father appears to him through the clouds. When Simba returns to the Pride Lands he leans that Scar had ruined the kingdom by permitting the hyenas to overfeed themselves and that he had kept the lioness against their will. Unlike Hamlet, Simba never kills is fathers murder but rather gets vengeance by telling Scar to run away and never come back. He gets revenge but in a less violent way than Hamlet. Simba wants Scar to go through the same punishment that he had given to him. However, through the fight Scar falls down the cliff and is attacked by the Hyenas, who had been on his side during the whole movie but since they had overheard him, trying to give them the blame for Mufasa’s death, they then eat him alive as revenge. After this Simba rightfully takes back his place in the pride lands and reunites with his mother, Sarabi and marries his childhood friend Nala and gives birth to a baby cub. A happy ending compared to Hamlet, where everyone had died. Claudius and Scar have very much more in common than Simba and Hamlet. They are both willing to murder anyone to achieve the throne. While on the other side Simba is more merciful than Hamlet. It is since the beginning of the film that Scar shows jealousy and disgust of his brother. According to Hamlelionking.com, we learn this through his first lines in the movie while he is playing with a mouse he is about to eat. “ Life is not fair is it? You see I – well, I shall never be king. And you shall never see light of another day.” ”(The Lion King, movie) His lines foreshadow the upcoming plot of the movie and his reason for killing his brother. And the same goes for Claudius as what his first lines are, “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death / The memory be green, and that is us befitted ”. (1.2.05 Shakespeare) Both the antagonists mention a brother in their first lines. Claudius says that the memory of his brother is till “green” meaning fresh but it could also symbolize jealousy or envy. Envy his what Scar feels for his brother and his eyes do also have a shade of green, something that any other character of the Lion King does not have.

Ophelia is a famous character from Hamlet due to how her life had ended. She was the sweet daughter of Polonius who was in love with Hamlet. She was innocent and was dependent on men to tell her how to behave. Ophelia dutifully strives to obey her father, allowing him to use her to spy on Hamlet. She goes mad after her father dies and commits suicide by drowning herself. On the other hand Nala form The Lion King is a strong character. She has her own opinions and can rely on herself. She loves Simba and the kingdom. Nala had mourned for the loss of Mufasa and Simba when she believed that they were dead. Hamletlionking.com has shown an example on how different they are. When Nala gets older, she goes out in search to find help for the Pride Lands and reunites with Simba. There is a scene where Simba jumps into the pool that they had been drinking from and pulls Nala into the water too. Nala steps out horrified as a cat normally does. This scene symbolizes that Nala is not Ophelia. She is stronger and has more control on her life that what Ophelia had ever had in Hamlet.

There are, as said clear parallels between Hamlet and The Lion King. The animation was made for a family audience so that children could also be included. Therefor the movie had a “happily ever after” conclusion with a warmer plotline. Therefor unlike Hamlet the beginning of the movie is more cheerful than what we see in Hamlet. The movie Hamlet is a classic example that represent theme of revenge. Hamlet is sought by revenge for the murder of his father. In The Lion King Simba first runs away from his problems rather than facing them but he returns to avenge his father’s death. Revenge is still a relevant theme in today’s entertainment. Our modern entertainment may look like it has a new surface but deep down we can always find some connections to the old literature and themes. The Lion King and Hamlet as stated earlier are two great examples of this.

Sources

The Lion King and Hamlet, http://hamletlionking.weebly.com
The Lion King, Plot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King#Plot
Hamlet, 1990 movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet_(1990_film)
The comparison between hamlet and the Lion King, direct essay, http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/34525.html
Plot overview and Character list, Hamlet, Sparks notes http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/summary.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/characters.html