Hamlet in Comparison to the Lion King Essay

Characterization is the representation of a fictional character. A key element of any story is character development. The LION King's cast, created by Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton and Irene Mecchi, mirror the characters of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The characters involved in this scene from Hamlet include Hamlet, Gertrude (The Queen), and King Hamlet’s ghost. In The LION King Mufasa’s Spirit share the moment. Each prince and their fathers spirit share close similarities. Both Hamlet and Simba are at first shocked to see the spirits. While Hamlet has witnessed the supernatural before, this is Simba’s first time. The two characters are equally in need of guidance and they each rely on their father, whom they trusted, to remind them of themselves. They have both along the way forgotten parts of themselves, Simba being his destiny and Hamlet being his humanity and task. The spirits arrive after something triggers the princes into a state of insecurity, depression, and anger. Hamlet had killed an innocent man and felt betrayed by his mother. Simba's memories of his dark past resurfaced and he felt like he was being pushed to return to it. Each character's father is soft spoken and direct, but not harsh. They do not engage in a conversation, but

After the process of making their way back home, both princes end up with fighting with their uncles. In “The Lion King”, Simba fights with Scar and Scar gets killed by the hyenas. Prince Hamlet in Hamlet kills king Claudius with a poisonous knife. Both “The Lion King” and “Hamlet” allows the main character to overcome a moral struggle. In “The Lion King”, Simba must act and be the king of his palace for sake of the animals of the kingdom and his father instead of running from what happened in the past. In “Hamlet”, prince Hamlet must decide to kill his uncle and take the risk of getting himself killed, or to keep the secret of King Claudius killing King Hamlet and live with it for the rest of his life.

When contrasting the characters in William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet to the characters in Walt Disney’s film, The Lion King, there are many differences in characterization. Hamlet is a play set in Denmark that tells the story of the tragic murder of King Hamlet and the emotional effects it has on his son, Prince Hamlet. The Prince’s mental instability causes him to go wildly insane over his love for Ophelia, who he will never have. He seeks vengeance on his uncle who is guilty of his father's murder. The Lion King is a film about Simba, a young lion prince who grieves over the untimely death of his father, the King of the Pride Lands. Simba discovers his Uncle Scar was the cause of his father's death. He must now return to Pride Rock in order to save his home and all who live there from the chaos under the ruling of Scar while he finds his place in society. When analyzing the characters Ophelia and Nala, they are dissimilar in their traits of obedience, dependence, and inner strength.

There is a lot of similarities between the Lion King and Hamlet. One of the biggest similarities is the characters, their traits, and their aspiration. In the Lion King Simba’s uncle Scar killed Simba’s dad and in the play Hamlet, Claudius killed Hamlet’s father. Simba and Hamlet are super alike. They both are loving, caring, empowered, fighters and they both want to kill their uncles because of what they did to their dads. Ophelia and Nala are both loving, caring and care about Simba/Hamlet. Ophelia and Nala are both the love interest of the main character. Scar and Claudius both want control of the kingdom. Simba and Hamlet both disappear from their families for a little. Both of the families in the Lion King and Hamlet are royal families. There is still a lot more similarities, but they mostly all have to do with character traits and what they do.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story about a king that was murdered by his brother and the prince has been asked by his father?s ghost to avenge his murder. The original story line has been altered a few times since it has been written. The original Hamlet the play and the altered Hamlet the movie are shown differently in many different ways. Hamlet the movie with Mel Gibson shows different things than the play, but there are three major differences between the two. The three major differences are in the way both of the productions start out, differences in the scene that the players put on a play, and differences in the way the productions end.

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

There are many similarities between the characters Claudius and Scar. One of those similarities is how they are both very cruel, especially to the people that they are supposed to love. One example of this from Hamlet is when the ghost says, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life / Now wears his crown,” exposing Claudius. (I.V.44-45). This quote shows just how cruel Claudius really is. He killed his own brother so that he could be the king and rule over Denmark. Also, Claudius never admits what he did and he doesn’t feel any remorse after doing it. Throughout the entire play we see Claudius doing cruel things that affect the other characters. One example of Scar being cruel is when he also killed his own brother. Just like Claudius killed Hamlet Sr, Scar killed Mufasa so that he could take over the Pridelands. He was jealous of Mufasa and wanted to be king so that the other animals would respect him. Instead, Claudius remained unliked by the other animals and didn’t gain from his cruel actions. Ultimately, they are both very cruel characters that were willing to kill in order to get what they wanted.

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.

The instinct for justice to be served and the idea of revenge to be sought has existed upon us to be a natural part of human nature for many years. Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Disney’s 1994 film “The Lion King” directed by Roger Allers share many parallels between the relationship of brothers, resulting for the seek of revenge and restored order to compare. Green with envy, Scar and Claudius result to murder to achieve victory in gaining power over the thrown. The comparison between Claudius and Cain are evident to portray revenge upon their brothers and later to be exiled With both king deaths, Mufasa and King Hamlet bring meaning and actions to lend hand in the motive to their sons to restore what is right.

“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

Out of spite, both protagonists plan to take revenge on their evil uncles. Hamlet ponders on the idea of revenging his father’s death, but it wasn’t until Claudius’ guilty conscience was exposed during the play and also when the Ghost orders Hamlet to “Revenge his soul!” that Hamlets purpose was clear. In the end, Hamlet confronts Claudius but it is pointless ending in a blood battle. Simba on the other hand was told, “Run away and never return!” after believing it was himself who killed his father. Wanting to do what was right, Simba followed his uncle’s orders and it wasn’t until a chance encounter with Nala, that he realised the damage he had caused. Trying to take back what was rightfully his, Simba defeats Scar but instead of death as his revenge, he banishes Scar from The Pride Lands, telling his “to never return”. Both antagonists in the texts experience the heartbreak and misfortune of revenge but deal with it in ways their intended audiences will understand and learn from.

The heartwarming film, The Lion King, that is loved by all and one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, Hamlet, may have striking similarities, but it's the Catholicism that is added in that ties them together. When looked at closely Disney’s production of The Lion King can be directly related to Shakespeare’s tragedy of Hamlet, through their storylines and character development. It’s interesting that so much relation to different religions can be found in Shakespeare’s writing since he was a Protestant, but by adding so many references to different religions has made Shakespeare’s reputation one of being religiously open-minded. Hidden beneath the surface of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Disney’s The Lion King many Catholic ideals can be extracted from the plot line of both stories, portrayed by Shakespeare and the screenplay writers of Disney, such as the inevitability of death with the idea of afterlife, the wretched murder of a brother along with the consequences, and religious sacraments of marriage, reconciliation, and baptism.

Another similarity between the two is the sighting of the father’s ghost. Simba sees it and it serves as his revelation moment before he returns to his pride. For Hamlet, his father’s ghost is his cue to avenge Hamlet Sr.’s death. The word “wind” is used several times throughout Hamlet and it is also used in one of Simba’s lines before he sees Mufassa’s ghost.

We are never shown this in Hamlet; instead we discover that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (1.5 90). We are left to assume that things have deteriorated since Claudius took the throne. Since we cannot see the geographical setting that lies beyond the stage in Hamlet, we are constantly reminded of the sick state by characters and events: the undertones of incest, the drunken revelries of the marriage feast, and the impending threat of invasion from Norway. The Lion King does not have the restrictions of the stage, and therefore we can actually see the physical landscape turn from paradise into a wasteland under Scar's rule. At the beginning of the movie, we are shown the elephant graveyard where the hyenas live. Once Scar allows the hyenas to venture beyond the borders and into his kingdom, the entire land looks like this graveyard - gray, barren, and parched, with niether food nor water. Suddenly there is a striking resemblance to Denmark in Hamlet's opening scene. There is no need to explore the political unrest or poisoned gene pool; Disney has converted all psychological and emotional complexities into the visible deterioration of the physical landscape. And when Simba comes back and conquers Scar at the end of the movie, it begins to rain almost instantly, putting out the raging fire that has spontaneously caught during the final battle, and instantaneously bringing new life to the landscape. No such luck for Hamlet - because he and everyone