One of the most controversial pieces of Hamlet is whether Hamlet’s madness is real or if he is faking it. If his madness isn’t real, and he is feigning it, it opens up the idea that he is using his madness as a distraction in order to divert attention from his true actions of killing Claudius. In The Lion King, Simba doesn’t have any of his own madness, but his friends Timone and Pumba supply him with some of their own. Timone and Pumba are Hamlet’s madness, but instead of Simba being mad himself, it is projected onto others. Timone and Pumba help Simba push the death of his father out of his mind, help him push the thoughts of his own death out of his mind, and help create a distraction for him realize his destiny of taking his rightful place as king.
The story of The Lion King and the tragedy Hamlet are parallel stories. Both journeys take the recalcitrant protagonist through the loss of their fathers’ and on a journey to discover who was there to seal their fathers’ fate. Once the characters learn that the said person is one of their own family members they realize that in order to restore order they must avenge their fathers’ deaths. This decision would not have been made without the madness that both Simba and Hamlet face to face with.
The tragedy of Hamlet begins approximately two months after the passing of King Hamlet, but in all of that time Hamlet has not moved on. He acts like his father’s death happened the previous day. He can’t let go of his father’s death. Gertrude tells Hamlet that he needs to move on when she says,
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailèd lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st 'tis common...
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...an important piece of Hamlet. Without the madness Samba would not have been able to push past his father’s death, would have committed suicide, and not have taken his rightful place as king. Without the madness the story would have progressed differently. That is why the writers had to incorporate the madness somehow. Their clever use of Timone and Pumba as a way to introduce Simba’s madness allowed the story to progress in the same way, without the confusion that the madness of whether Hamlet was truly mad or not that was introduced in Hamlet.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William, and Harold Jenkins. Hamlet. London: Methuen, 1982.
The Lion King. Dir. Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. By Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda
Woolveton, Time Rice, Elton John, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, and Jeremy Irons. VHS. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc., 1994.
The movie, The Lion King, and the book, Hamlet, both have a similar story line. In both stories, the king is killed and revenge is sought by the king’s son. The murderers in the stories are the king’s brothers who want the power of the throne. After the death of the Kings, both of the villains successfully took over the kingdoms. While these villains ruled, the kingdoms slowly deteriorated. Neither of the sons liked the villains, but they did not know at first that they had anything to do with their father’s death. It took an outside force to convince them that they must vow revenge for their father’s death. Both sons had the wit to approach revenge strategically. They wanted the villains to know that they knew about how their fathers were murdered.
Hamlet decides to portray an act of insanity, as part of his plan to seek revenge for his father's murder. As the play progresses, the reader may start to believe Hamlet’s “insane” act, but throughout the scenes, Hamlet shows that he knows right from wrong, good from bad, and his friends from his enemies. Hamlet shows that he still has power and control over his actions. As Elliot says “Hamlet madness is less than madness and more feigned”. Hamlet portrays a mad man, in order to be free from questioning, thus allowing him to have an easier path towards revenge.
More important than the clues that one may find proving Hamlet's sanity is the motive behind Hamlet's simulated madness. The first reason Hamlet would have to make people think that he is crazy is the freedom it grants him. As in any society, the world in which Hamlet lives has social norms and taboos. However, if one is insane, then one is not expected or required to abide by those standards. Therefore, if the people in Hamlet's life are convinced that he is insane, then he is no longer bound by the social restraints of society.
Hamlet and Lion king are similar because in both Brothers want to kill the king to take the throne. In act 1 scene 5 the ghost told hamlet to kill Claudius for what he did to him. Oh, my offence is rank.it smells to heaven. It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, a brother’s murder. Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 3 (42- 44) It shows that both in the Lion King and Hamlet that brothers kill each other for power. Though Scar kills Mufasa by throwing him off a cliff. “Scar help me. Long live the king brother” Disney. It shows that in both movie and play that the brothers king kills to become king. In both play and movie they kill for the throne and power because of their selfish emotions.
It has been said by many intelligent and informed people that Disney's The Lion King is a children's version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, meaning they are both similar stories. The Lion King, Is a story of a cub named Simba who is to succeed his father, Mufasa, as a king; however, Simba's uncle Scar does not like that a cub is to replace the king and not him. So Scar murders Mufasa and Simba flees into exile. This story is similar to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in many ways; both are the story of a young male prince who is torn apart by the early death of his father. Also the uncle that takes over the throne that should rightly belong to the prince, and both of the tragic heroes overcome their own flaws and uncertainties to take back their thrones
The protagonists (heroes), Hamlet and Simba both learn that their fathers has been killed by the antagonists (villains), Claudius and Scar. In the ‘Lion King’ Simba runs away from pride rock in fear and grief after putting the blame on himself with the help of Scar. Simba finds his father’s ghost who tells him that Scar has betrayed him and killed him. Simba’s actions after leaving Pride Rock and seeing his father’s ghost show the audience that he wants to avenge his father’s death. In ‘Hamlet’ the main character, Hamlet, also sees his father’s ghost and tells him that he has also been back stabbed by his own brother, Claudius. Hamlet, furious after hearing that he has been betrayed, sets his uncle up too see if he really did kill his own brother to become the new king. Both Simba and Hamlet are trying to make their own legacy in seeking vengeance on their
This topic is a good topic because it points out more details about how the movies are similar. The Lion King is easier to understand after you have watched Hamlet because you can tell what is going to happen and understand what is going to happen. First, some examples are when Simba’s dad died, his dad came back to him as a ghost and in Hamlet when Hamlet’s dad died, his dad also came back to him as a ghost to give him advice on what to do. Next, another example is when both Claudius and Scar killed their brothers they came back to admit that it was them who killed their brothers. Another example is when Simba and Hamlet both kill the enemies so they can have their kingdoms back and make the kingdoms great again. “Here, thou incestuous, murderous,
Hamlet shows many signs he has gone completely mad. Hamlets personality has changed many different times, from melancholy to playing in between the two roles of madness and sanity. His father’s sudden death and his mother’s rushed marriage to his uncle were major factors in Hamlet’s melancholy. His melancholy changed to madness when he first met with the ghost of his father. He transfers his personality between madness and sanity but madness took over. He lost his ability to be sane and created madness all around him as well. Hamlets pure madness is a pure act that turns into his identity.
The Lion King, a film of sorrow and revenge, focuses on the prince of the Pridelands, Simba. Simba, the son of Mufasa(King of the Pridelands), is a mischievous lion cub that gets caught in a stampede incident; which, results in the death of his father. He believes he is to blame for his father’s death, but he is not. Mufasa’s death is the work of Simba’s vile uncle, Scar. Since the making of this film, many people have compared this movie to the shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet. Though the two works share surface-level similarities in plot and characterization, when comparing themes and structure, The Lion King and Hamlet are fundamentally different.
Characters from The Lion King (1994) can be matched to characters found in Hamlet (2008); with Simba being Prince Hamlet--the main protagonist, Mufasa as King Hamlet--the slain king, and Scar as Claudius--the greedy uncle. The most obvious similarity between The Lion King (1994) and Hamlet (2008) is both works feature the murder of the king by the hands of his greedy brother. However, the difference is the methods used to execute the monarch. Claudius was able to take the throne after poisoning his brother and Scar was responsible for Mufasa’s death because he pushed Mufasa off the ledge of a cliff he was hanging on to.
In The Lion King, the role of the young prince whose father is murdered is played by a cub named Simba, whose naivete procures him more than his fair share of hardships and troubles. By the acts in the story alone, one can see that Simba is a direct representation of Shakespeare's Hamlet Jr., but not only that, each of them shares similar actions in the play. Interpretations if Simba's actions are as profound as Hamlet's, particularly of why Hamlet delayed in exacting vengeance for his father's death (Harrison 236). Both Simba and Hamlet Jr. "delay" their action of retribution for their respective father's deaths. The loss of their paternal companion leaves Hamlet incre...
In “The Lion King”, the young cub Simba is an embodiment of Hamlet himself seeing as both fathers were killed, both in dramatic fashion. Through the acts of the Shakespearean tale the representation of hamlet is easily identifiable through Interpretations of Simba's actions which are parallel to that of Hamlet. In the “The Lion King” Simba attempts to mask the loss of his fa...
The theme of madness is broad, the word itself has many different definitions. In the play the only definition of madness is said by Polonius, “To define true madness, What is’t but to be nothing else but mad?” (II, ii, 93-94). In this quote Polonius defines madness as taking over your thoughts that you cannot focus on the things around you only the madness itself. This would mean that to go mad breaks you off from reality causing the person to not function as they had. As said in Emily Dickinson's quote pertaining to madness can also be faked to gain different benefits. This theme is prominently seen through the characters Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet puts on a persona of madness after the ghost tells him of his father’s true murder, to make certain that no one figures out what he is trying to do. This persona helps Hamlet to figure out if Claudius actually killed his father or if the ghost was trying to trick Hamlet. This persona had tricked both Claudius and Polonius into thinking he was mad. In contrast there were times where it had seemed that he was mad such as act three during his confrontation with Ophelia. During this confrontation Hamlet dragged
The theme of madness is seen in various places throughout Hamlet. According to Merriam Webster, madness is “a state of severe mental illness”, “intense anger”, and “behavior or thinking that is very foolish or dangerous” (Merriam Webster). In every Act, there is much controversy over who is mad and why. This confusion over who is mad and why leads many characters to their deaths. In William Shakespeare's drama, Hamlet, Hamlet pretends to be mad, Ophelia is truly mad, and the kingdom reacts to their madness in various ways.
The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness influences several important aspects of his life including his relationships and the way he presents himself.