Nick Diso
Mrs. Denman
English III ­ Period 3
April 21, 2014
Hamlet v.s The Lion King
Did you have any idea that a Disney movie and a story by Shakespeare could be very similar? Many people seem to think the Disney’s The Lion King is just an animated movie for children. What people don’t realize is
, The Lion King is a modern translation of Shakespeare’s
Hamlet.
There are many parallels between the main characters of the two stories. Both are about a boys father, who happens to be the king. The king is killed by his own brother in both stories.
While the boy should become king, his uncle does, and the boy fights to become king. Disneys
Simba would be Shakespeares young Hamlet, Disneys Mufasa would be the respected King
Hamlet, and Scar would be the immortal uncle, Claudius. Shakespeares young Hamlet and Disneys Simba are very similar, they are both young princes. There are a few differences between these two characters. In
The Lion King
, Simba thinks that he killed his father when he really didn’t. In Shakespeare, he knows that his uncle killed him. Another one is during
Hamlet
, he gets sent away, but in
The Lion King
, he runs away. The main difference is that in
Hamlet
, young Hamlet dies (Shakespeare iiiii.ii.373.). In
The Lion King
, Simba doesn’t die, he starts a family. There are many similarities between the two also. They are both the son of the king, in
The Lion King it’s Mufasa (Disney
The Lion
King
). In
Hamlet
it’s King Hamlet. In both stories their father is killed by his own brother,

because he wants to become king. Claudius is the brother in
Hamlet
, and Scar is the brother in
The Lion King. Another similarity between Simba and young Hamlet is that they both want to get revenge for the death of their father. The last similarity with Simba and young Hamlet, would be that they both start to like girl! Nala from The Lion King, and Ophelia from Hamlet. The only and last difference is, in Hamlet, Ophelia dies. In The Lion King, Simba and Nala get married and have kids! These are only the similarities and differences for one character! There are also many from Mufasa! Shakespeares King Hamlet, and Disneys Mufasa also have some similarities and differences. The main similarity is that both Mufasa and King Hamlet are the king in both stories. Another one would be that Mufasa and King Hamlet were both very brave, nice, and highly respected. In both stories, the king is killed by his brother. The difference between the deaths is, in Hamlet poison is poured into his ear (Shakespeare.i.iiiii.65­85.). In The Lion King,
Mufasa is forced off a cliff (Disney
The Lion King
). A big difference between these two characters is, King Hamlet is already dead when the book starts, we just see his ghost many times. Mufasa was alive for a good portion of the movie.