Lucas Verde
Dr. Arendt
ENG4U -2
26 January 2015
Hakuna Matata? That is the Question
A mother says to her young child, “Honey, come downstairs and watch Hamlet!” A statement which might sound ludicrous at first, is in reality, more sensible than one might think. Since 1994, The Lion King has been a must-see film for children all around the world. Its 8.5 rating on IMDB lists it alongside of some of the greatest movies ever made. Children’s movies that were released around this time were all shallow and simplistic. The reason why The Lion King was so successful is because it was an unexpected and pleasant anomaly. The Lion King is a story of responsibility and revenge, masked by a setting that is known to be appealing to children. However, this is not the first time something with this same story line has been told. In fact, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one of the most popular pieces of literature of all time, parallels The Lion King in many more ways than one. The Lion King and Hamlet are best compared through the actions of the secondary characters, the exploration of the theme of death, and the striking similarities present in each works’ protagonist. Obviously, all plot events are not exactly the same, however the differences are insignificant to the point that the majority of the storyline and major characters still remain the same.
The reflections of Hamlet in The Lion King are so strong that there are 3 sets of secondary characters that bear a striking resemblance to one another: Mufasa and King Hamlet, Claudius and Scar, as well as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and the hyenas. King Hamlet ruled his country virtuously and successfully. This is made clear by Horatio in a conversation with Marcellus and Barnardo about the possibility of war under the new King Claudius. Horatio states that Hamlet Sr. was a noble king who was respected by the citizens of Denmark: “For so this side of our known world esteem'd him” (1.1.97). Horatio goes on to say that King Hamlet made no wars, but would not hesitate to defend his country. That he was a peaceful king, but not a peace at all costs king. King Hamlet’s nobility was also demonstrated in a conversation between Hamlet and his mother Gertrude. While discussing Gertrude’s new husband, Claudius, Hamlet picks up portraits of his father and Claudius, and says:
Look here, upon this picture, and on this.
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See what a grace was seated on this brow;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man;
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows;
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear
Blasting his wholesome brother.
(3.4. 63-75) In The Lion King, Mufasa too ruled peacefully over the Pride Lands, caring only about his son and his duties as King. In a conversation with his son, Simba, Mufasa says:
“There’s more to being a King than getting your way all the time. Everything you see exists together, in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance, and respect all the creatures-- from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope” (11:07). Regarding Mufasa and King Hamlet, their greatness did not stop at their death. They both appeared as an apparition telling their sons to take responsibility for what their uncles had done. Mufasa told Simba “You must take your place in the Circle of Life…Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king” (1:07:51). When the ghost of King Hamlet appeared in front of Hamlet, he told him to “revenge his most foul and unnatural murder” (1.5.31). It is not just King Hamlet and Mufasa that allude to one another. In fact, their brothers Claudius and Scar can be directly compared to one another as villains in their respective works. Both Claudius and Scar murdered their brother to usurp the throne. Scar and Claudius believed themselves to be stronger mentally than their brother, thus making them more fit as the role of king. Scar even says to Mufasa, “Well, as far as brains go, I got the lion's share. But, when it comes to brute strength I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool” (6:51). Scar and Claudius were both represented as cowards. Examples of this lie in the murders of their brothers. Being physically and morally weak, Scar killed Mufasa at a time where he was defenseless, begging for scar to save him, seconds away from death. The same goes for Claudius, as he poisoned King Hamlet as he was sleeping. Comparisons between the deaths of these two characters can be made as well. The poisoned chalice in which Claudius originally used to try to kill Hamlet, resulted in the cause of his own death. Hamlet forced Claudius to drink the cup and said “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnèd Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? Follow my mother” (5.2.355-59). In The Lion King, Scar used the hyenas to try to kill Simba, but it was the hyenas who ultimately took Scar’s life to revenge how they were treated. On the surface, it would appear as if the comparable characters to Hamlet’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would be Simba’s friends Timone and Pumba. However, that was not the case. The hyenas were in fact the modern representation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. This was due to the fact that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in reality were not true friends of Hamlet. The reason why they appear in the play was not because they were concerned for Hamlet’s well-being, it was because they were hired and paid by the King and Queen, as shown in 2.2:
KING. The need we have to use you did provoke
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard
Of Hamlet's transformation…
…Draw him on to pleasures, and to gather,
So much as from occasion you may glean
QUEEN. For the supply and profit of our hope, Your visitation shall receive such thanks
As fits a king's remembrance. (2.2.3-5, 15-16, 24-26)

The hyenas were also servants to scar, used to kill Simba. In the movie it was shown that the hyenas were just too stupid to complete the murder of Simba. In Hamlet, Claudius hired Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to transport hamlet to England to be killed. Hamlet was too smart to be outwitted. These series of events occurred when Hamlet requested that Guildenstern play the recorder for him:
GUILDENSTERN. But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill.
HAMLET. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass: and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me. (3.2.391-402)

From this verse it is evident that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, like the hyenas, were too stupid to complete the mission that they were put on. The second major parallel between The Lion King and Hamlet is the theme of death. Death has been considered the primary theme of Hamlet, and while it might not be evident to all children, it is also a primary theme of the Lion King. In both works, the death of the original king was the defining moment for all characters. Hamlet was obsessed with death throughout the entire story. His fascination was demonstrated when Claudius asked him where he hid Polonius’ body: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table: that's the end. (4.2.22-28)

In The Lion King, the theme of death was symbolized by the visual status of the safari. This is because too much actual death would scare off children, the target audience. When Simba returned after Scar had taken over as king, the entire Pride Lands appeared to be a desolate wasteland. There were no animals left, the fields had turned black, the rivers had dried up, and the remaining habitants were thirsty and starving. The blackness of the Pride Lands represented the blackness in scar’s heart. Ironically, as the title might not suggest it, The Circle of Life tells the audience a lot about death, in both works. In The Lion King, Mufasa tells Simba that when they die, their bodies become grass, which is eaten by the antelope, which are eaten by the lion. In Hamlet, while in the graveyard, Hamlet tells Horatio that Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar might be dead, but who’s to say that their bodies’ remains are not in use? This was demonstrated in this comment by Hamlet: Alexander died, Alexander was buried,
Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make loam—and why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall t' expel the winter’s flaw!
But soft, but soft a while. (5.1.216-24)

In his essay The Embassy of Death, G. Wilson Knight stated that “one element in Hamlet, and that a very important one, is the negation of any passion whatsoever. His disease—or vision—is primarily one of negation, of death. Hamlet is a living death in the midst of life; that is why the play sounds the note of death so strong and sombre at the start.” This is paralleled by Scar in The Lion King. Scar is the living symbol of death, demonstrated by the state of the pride lands when he takes over as king.
The third section to be analyzed is the similarities between the protagonists of both The Lion King and Hamlet. In The Lion King, there was a young prince by the name of Simba, whose father was murdered by his uncle. This tragic event set Simba on a long journey of hardship and struggle. From this description alone, one can derive that Simba was the modern version of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. After the deaths of their fathers, Simba and Hamlet endured the process of self-discovery, until they conclude that they must avenge for their father’s death and take back their lost kingdom. An example of another similarity between Hamlet and Simba is that they were both exiled. Hamlet was forced to go to England, with his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as guards. In The Lion King, Scar told Simba to “run away and never return” where the young cub met Timone and Pumba. In 3.1, Hamlet pondered whether or not he should commit suicide:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more… (3.1.64-69)

With this speech, Hamlet questioned if he was strong enough to deal with all of the tough things that life was throwing his way, or whether he should give up and kill himself. In The Lion King, after Simba was visited by the ghost of his father, he was left with the option to go back to the Pride Lands and take over as king. Simba was unsure whether he should do this, because if he went back to the pride lands, he would be forced to revisit all of his repressed troubles, and he pondered to himself whether it was worth it or not. Rafiki, the wise baboon, explained to Simba that the past can hurt, but that it doesn’t matter because it is the past, and all one can do is either run from the past, or learn from it. From both of Hamlet and Simba’s experience of self-reflection, they found the will to live, and to do what was right, within themselves.
It has been proven through the actions of the secondary characters, the exploration of the theme of death, and the striking similarities present in each works’ protagonist that The Lion King truly is a movie based on the same story line as Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This begs for a deeper investigation into modern entertainment as a whole. Certain films may appear shallow and simplistic, just like a story about a bunch of lions, hyenas, Meer cats, and baboons, but on a deeper level can tell a story of death, responsibility, and revenge.

Works Cited
Crawford, Alexander W. Hamlet, an ideal prince, and other essays in Shakesperean interpretation: Hamlet; Merchant of Venice; Othello; King Lear. Boston R.G. Badger, 1916. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2009
Jamieson, Lee. "Death in 'Hamlet' - a Theme of Shakespeare's Play." About Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2015
Knight, G. Wilson. "The embassy of death: An essay on Hamlet." The Wheel of Fire: Interpretations of Shakespearean Tragedy (1930): 17-46.
Roth, Matt. "The Lion King A Short History of Disney-fascism." Jump Cut (1996): 15-20. Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
Shakespeare, William, and E. Hubler. Hamlet: The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. N.p.: Signet Classic, 1963. Print.
The Lion King. Dir. Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. By Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton, Tim Rice, Elton John, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, and Jeremy Irons. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc., 1994. DVD.
Untermacher, John. Miller, W.C. ed. "Hamlet Themes | Hamlet Study Guide". GradeSaver, 30 August 2009 Web. 25 January 2015.