Comparing Hamlet And The Lion King

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2009 adaptation of Hamlet shows resembance to Disney’s 1994 production of the Lion King. Each film revolves around a male protagonist, who must cope with the death of his father, murdered by his uncle. Both characters are a prince, and threats to the throne which makes them targets for murder. They each experience emotional trauma in order to overthrow the corrupt king. Gregory Duncan had an unusual vision for his modern rendition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, just as Roger Allen had for his African themed one. One parallel event which stands prominent is Hamlet’s second encounter with his father’s spirit compared to Simba’s with his. Each director effectively used characterization, as well as manipulated their script to fulfill their interpretation of this scene from the classic story. Thus, proving that each film reflects the positive and negative connections within a family in a monarchy's society.

“The Lion King” is watched by children all over the world. It is a classic Disney movie that many watch for fun and entertainment, but could there be something else to this film? The plot of “The Lion King” is very similar to Shakespeare’s play,” Hamlet”. Some similarities include the lives of Simba and prince Hamlet are changed due to their evil uncles, both fathers die, and both fathers come back as ghosts. Each character in “The Lion King” connects with a character in “Hamlet”. Simba plays as prince Hamlet, Mufasa plays as King Hamlet, Gertrude plays as Sarabi, Scar plays as King Claudius, Nala plays as Ophelia, Rafiki plays as Horatio, hyenas plays as Laertes, and Timon and Pumbaa plays as Rosencrantz and

In Shakespeare’s, “The Tragedy of Hamlet”, the protagonist, Hamlet, is a highly intelligent and perceptive man. His life turns awry after the death of his father and Hamlet faces his greatest moral dilemma. Likewise, Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” chronicles the life of a young Indian boy stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger for 227 days with only his faith to keep him going. Both Piscine Patel and Prince Hamlet were deeply religious, however, their outlooks and philosophies on life were vastly different. Hamlet struggled to trust others, having only a true confidant in Horatio. Whilst Pi on the other hand, befriends everyone, even those who have opposing beliefs to him.

The purpose of this report is to compare and contrast two movies made about Hamlet. I will present and discuss different aspects of the version directed by Kenneth Branagh to that of Franco Zefirelli. During this paper you will be presented with my opinions in reference to determining which version of Hamlet best reflects the original text by Shakespeare. I will end this paper with my belief and explanation of which movie is true to the original play.

Many literary works can be compared due to vast amounts of similarities between theme and characters; Hamlet and the Lion King are two literary works in which character and theme are surprisingly similar throughout each work. The Lion King is thought to be just an animated children’s film, however, it is in fact a modern translation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The main characters in the Lion King are definite parallels to those in Hamlet. Along with the main characters and plot details, the stories were similar in the representation of the secondary characters. "Here's my little secret, I killed Mufasa.” The theme in Hamlet can be compared to the Walt Disney movie The Lion King. Hamlet and Simba are betrayed by their uncles whom murder their

The Lion King and Hamlet have a lot of similarities, but it also has some differences that are pretty noticeable. For say The Lion King is a more family-friendly movie as for Hamlet has more of a PG14 plot.There is a lot more sexual joke in Hamlet, but in the Lion King, there was not any or only a few sexual jokes. There are also a lot of similarities in both plots like in the characters, but there are lots more similarities than just characters. Disney changed a lot of stuff to make it more kid-friendly and so that Shakespeare fans don’t get super mad because they copied Hamlet exactly, but there is still lots of similarities, but a lot more differences

Tony Robbins said, “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others”. Shakespeare’s writing has had many different ways of being presented because people perceive it in different ways. Whether it is a literal representation or a spin, directors like to show viewers the way they perceive the text. In the movie version of Hamlet the director, Kenneth Branagh, wanted the viewers to find Shakespeare interesting and full of action and drama. Kenneth chose the right direction to go in to keep the audience’s attention but it

When comparing the characters in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet to Disney’s The Lion King, they are similar. Hamlet is a play about a boy who lost his father and had to get revenge on his uncle, the new King and the killer of his father. The Lion King is a movie about a young lion who loses his father and then struggles with his uncle and finding his place in the circle of life. When specifically looking at Scar and Claudius they are similar because they are cruel, selfish, and two-faced.

Many directors choose to make many different decisions when producing their version of Hamlet. Every actor portrays the character Hamlet in several ways making each version almost a new story. Mel Gibson's 1990 version and the 2009 David Tennant films are very different in style, scene omissions and several other aspects.

When comparing two different Hamlet movies I found that one scene in particular was obviously more different than the others. I compared Columbia pictures 1996 version with Kenneth Branagh playing the role of Hamlet versus BBC’s 2009 Hamlet in which David Tennant played the honorable role of Hamlet. When comparing both movies I found a lot of similarities but there was one major difference when I compared the “To be or not to be” scene. The scenes vary in multiple ways whether it is lighting, focus, camera movements, and even the actors that play Hamlet.

“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I.V.31). In Shakespeare's play titled Hamlet, Lies, deception, and foul play are all encompassed into an iconic tale of revenge. The tragedy takes place in Denmark, following the death of Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. Shortly after his death, King Hamlet’s brother Claudius marries, the Queen, who is prince Hamlet’s mother. The ghost of the dead king later shows himself to Hamlet in order to reveal that he was actually murdered by his own brother Claudius. After the ghost instructs Hamlet to avenge his death, he composes a plan involving false insanity, to discover whether Claudius really did kill his father and how to avenge his father's death. In comparing the original Hamlet play, to movie

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet explores and condones the same variety of themes in Disney’s The Lion King. Through a number of events, both the antagonists want to take revenge upon their evil uncles. The reader and audience learn the importance of finding happiness when Simba meets Timon and Pumba, but Hamlet is neglected leaving him to spiral into dark thoughts. Another theme explored by both texts is power and how easy it is to lose what’s all around you as well as the even bigger struggle it is to gain it all back. Both texts have a variety of differences, yet they are very similar which makes them unique. Especially The Lion King, being aimed at a younger audience, it is evident to see how Disney has purposely left out harsh topics, such as suicide, to cater for the indented audience.

Did you know that the Disney movie The Lion King was actually based off of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet? Though not completely similar there are many scenes that resemble the famous play. Both of the plots included the evil uncle killing the king to take his power. Simba never died like Hamlet but they both defeated the uncle so that the kingdom would be peaceful again.

Insecure love is a love that sees no future. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Ophelia and Hamlet’s love falls victim to their own insecurities and therefore drastically fails. The relationship that ensues between Ophelia and Hamlet is complicated and questioned continuously in modern day analysis of the play. Their relationship proves to be important to the story in many different ways, including how it affects the characters as individuals throughout the play. Shakespeare’s use of character development, the effects of grief, and an overall theme of insecure love in their relationship further contributes to the meaning of the play as a whole.

The social tolerance of these plays goes hand in hand with their exploration of human psychology. The hallmark examples of Shakespeare’s penetration into the human psyche are Hamlet and King Lear. In the former, Shakespeare explores the state of melancholia in the young prince of Denmark. Even after the play is finished the audience is still left pondering whether or not Hamlet is truly sane. Bloom writes: “the question of Hamlet always must be Hamlet himself, for Shakespeare created him to be as ambivalent and divided a consciousness as a coherent drama could sustain” (387). Further, in his analysis of the character, Bloom asserts that Hamlet “transcends his play” (385). Running with this notion, it is possible to suggest that, in the character of Hamlet, Shakespeare explores the psychology of morality in and of itself. Shakespeare critic Richard Hilliard asserts that in Hamlet’s makeup is one of an adept moral consciousness; He writes: