Hamlet Vs The Lion King Hamlet

Many children grew up watching the magic of Disney through the first Disney princess, Snow White, all the way up to Frozen with Anna and Elsa. When The Lion King first came out in 1994, everyone thought it was just another heart-wrenching movie about a young lion prince who must fight his uncle for the title of King. However, scholars have recently released a theory that threw the world of The Lion King back to Shakespearean times, claiming the movie is actually based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. While many jumped on the bandwagon, agreeing that The Lion King was clearly based on Hamlet because it has an evil uncle who takes the throne and a prince who must fight him for that throne. However, upon a deeper look into the movie, there are more

This is the biggest difference between the two works and is what makes the theory that The Lion King is based on Hamlet so hard to believe. From the moment that Hamlet speaks with his father’s ghost, Hamlet spends the majority of the book trying to determine whether the ghost was really his father or not before taking revenge on his uncle. In that quest, Hamlet kills Polonius and sends his son into his own search for revenge. The entire play is based around the idea of revenge and builds up to the moment when Hamlet finally decides to kill his uncle and leaves the audience with a relieved feeling towards the deaths at the end, especially Claudius’. However, the main theme for The Lion King is the circle of life. The opening scene of the movie includes the theme song titled “The Circle of Life”, which, according to www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca, “already depicts its importance”. Vicky Wong, author of Deconstructing Walt Disney’s The Lion King, states that, “We need to understand the balance (of the ecological system) and respect all the creatures,” which I believe is what Simba is trying to follow throughout the movie, instead of focusing on getting revenge on the wildebeests who actually killed Mufasa. The song isn’t the only time the circle of life shows up, as Mufasa himself talks to Simba about this cycle. Mufasa refers to

These characters are not only different in their looks and actions, but also in the way they have an impact on the audience. Hamlet makes the audience feel, demented, exhausted, and maybe a little melancholy. The way Hamlet mopes around in the beginning of the book makes the audience feel dark and heavy while, causing the melancholy feel of the entire book. The audience also may feel as though they are becoming a little demented themselves after trying to follow the reasoning of Hamlet’s actions and his thoughts as he acts crazy throughout the majority of the book. As well, the audience may feel exhausted after trying to make sense of Hamlet’s thoughts in his soliloquies and the constant aggravation that Hamlet causes. Simba, however, does not have such a heavy feeling to accompany him. As the audience travels through Simba’s life with him, they feel a sort of fond attachment to Simba. Because the audience watched Simba grow up through the pain, the confusion, and the frustration, they end the movie with a feeling of pride towards Simba as he takes the throne. This pride has a much lighter feeling than the feeling Hamlet leaves the audience