Comparing Hamlet And The Lion King

Hamlet and The Lion King are interconnected in many ways. While reading Hamlet, I noticed so many parallels between the movie and the play, so it was very interesting to compare and contrast. While there are some differences, The Lion King is based in Hamlet. Now how much of it was inspired by Shakespeare, is a matter of opinion. In mine, I think that both stories share similar elements and themes, but the expression and message of those elements and how they are conveyed is varied. I also think that the stories are interconnected in many ways that go beyond just the characters and the plot. For example, the scene with the ghost of Elder Hamlet talking to Prince Hamlet has a very desperate, vengeful feel to it. However, the scene with Mufasa’s
Another thing I noticed while watching the movie after reading Hamlet, is how many characters are similar. For example, Claudius is directly comparable to Scar. They both have similar personalities and roles in their respective stories. Other characters such as these include Simba and Hamlet, Nala and Ophelia, Zazu and Polonius, and Rafiki and Horatio. The amount of parallels shocked me initially, but then I realized that Hamlet is a very popular play, and it's not surprising that Disney was inspired by it. As I previously mentioned, both movie and play share similar characteristics, such as the king’s death being caused by the evil brother and the prince trying to find their way through a messy political scheme. To say that Lion King ripped off Hamlet, would be inaccurate. These elements are shared by many other stories, one of them being Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that these are original concepts, they just show how the same idea can be displayed in a number of ways. Now, there are a bunch of ways the two literary works are unique. For starters, the events of the major plot points are