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Smith-Sampson 1
‘’’’Larronce Smith Sampson
Dr. Gail Crump/Dr. Darlene Ciraulo
English 4000
March 26, 2010
From Denmark to Pride Rock: A Kid Friendly Version of Hamlet
Disney’s musical, The Lion King, is a kid friendly version of the Shakespeare’s more
brutal play Hamlet. Even though, Disney billed The Lion King as the first original animated
movie that was not based on a fairy tale in 1994 (Wetpaint) , it contained several nuances that
alluded to the original play, Hamlet. The Lion King took away most of the brutality of Hamlet
and disguised it with cute animated animals that sang and danced. The main characters and the
overall plots of the stories are very similar. Several of the differences and similarities of both
stories will be discussed.
In both stories, the protagonists were young princes who were scheduled to be the next
heirs to their fathers’ thrones. When both kings died untimely deaths, neither Simba nor Hamlet
was immediately able to take their rightful thrones. Simba, a lion cub, was next in line for the
throne, but his Uncle Scar wanted him dead so that he could secede his brother, Mufasa. Hamlet
was stopped by his Uncle Claudius and was killed before taking his place on the throne. The
main story line is almost identical. Claudius killed Hamlet, Sr. to usurp his throne away from
Hamlet. Scar tricked Simba into believing that his father died because he was trying to save
Simba from rampaging antelopes.
Both characters, Hamlet and Simba, were told by the spirits of their fathers to
“remember” them (Ingoglia 79) (Shakespeare 1.5). Each prince also had a responsibility to
Smith-Sampson 2
“remember” not only their fathers, but also to “remember” who the princes were. Hamlet stated
this in a note that he had written to his uncle,
“So uncle, there you are.
Now to my word.
It is “adieu, adieu, remember me.”
I have sworn’t.”” (Shakespeare 1.5)
Rafiki noted a similar sentiment to Simba when he was showing Simba his father’s reflection in
the water,
““That’s not my father,” Simba told him. “It’s just my reflection.”
“Look harder,” said Rafiki.
Puzzled, Simba stared into the shining water again. His reflection shimmered
and gradually changed shape. It was turning into his father’s image!
Simba gasped.
“You see,” said Rafiki, “he lives in you.”” (Ingoglia 77)
Hamlet had no reason to initially blame anyone for the murder of his father. Everyone
thought that Hamlet, Sr. had been bitten by a serpent while sleeping in the orchard. When the
ghost of Hamlet’s father told him differently, Hamlet vowed to remember his father and to
avenge his father’s death. Hamlet began to act as if he had gone mad to throw everyone off
about his plans. In a sense, through his madness, he ran away from his direct obligations until
Smith-Sampson 3
he had the evidence he needed. Hamlet enlisted the help of his friends, Horatio and Barnardo
and swore them to secrecy. Hamlet drug his feet in seeking revenge though. He devised a plan
in Act 2, Scene 2, to have some actors enact a play called “The Murder of Gonzago” so that he
could see Claudius’ reactions to how the king in the play was murdered.
Simba adopted “Hakuna Matata” attitude which meant “no worries”, with his friends
Timon and Pumbaa. Where Hamlet had already been trained to be a warrior and successor to his
father’s throne, Simba had just begun his lessons as the future king of the Pride Lands, and he
felt deep regret for causing his father’s death. He was only a small child when his father died.
He ran away from his responsibilities, and his friend Nala and the mystic, Rafiki made him
realize that he was worthy to be the king of the Pride Lands.
Hamlet was a young man that came home for his father’s funeral. While he is home, his
mother Gertrude married the one person that could take Hamlet’s rightful throne, his Uncle
Claudius. Hamlet was more distraught about his mother’s “incestuous” remarriage so quickly
after his father’s death than he was about the actual funeral. Hamlet learned from his father’s
ghost, that his uncle poisoned Hamlet, Sr. so that he could take over Denmark and go to war with
the neighboring land of Norway. Hamlet showed signs of insanity after he spoke with the
spirit. Hamlet caused the women he loved a great deal of grief and believed that no woman
could be trusted focusing the entire story line on the murder of his father and his mother’s errant
relationship.
Simba ran away from Pride Rock when he thought he had accidentally killed his father.
He was a small child (lion cub) and his Uncle Scar told him that “it was his fault that his father
was dead.” Simba unknowingly broke his mother’s heart, because he ran away and his mother
Smith-Sampson 4
was told that he was dead. Simba was left for dead in the African desert and two unlikely friends
in Timon and Pumbaa came to his rescue. Simba was told that he was the cause of Mufasa’s
death, even though his uncle who told him that it was his fault was the true murderer. Simba hid
from his responsibilities in the jungle with his new found friends.
The Lion King began with the sun dawning on a new day across the horizon. All of the
animals were joyously running to Pride Rock. None of the animals wanted to miss the
celebration of the “blessing of the new prince, by the Chief Mystic, Rafiki” (Ingoglia 6). The
glorious colors and joy grabbed kids’ attention. The weather was perfectly warm in the Pride
Lands of Africa. The warmth of the entire situation fills its audience with excitement.
Unfortunately, Hamlet began on an extremely dismal and cold night. There was a degree
of excitement for the night watchmen, but there was no joy, only apprehension. Two nights in a
row, they saw a spirit that resembled Hamlet’s dead father. The wind was bitterly cold and the
air crackled under their breaths. The ghost was fully armored but had his beaver lifted above his
face so that the watchmen saw his face. When Hamlet was told about the armored spirit he
commented,
“My father’s spirit—in arms! All is not well.
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. (Foul) deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes “(Shakespeare 1.2).
Simba was an innocent lion cub who “just can’t wait to be king” (Thomas, Broderick and
Irons). His father, Mufasa, was the epitome of strength, courage, and honor. He was stern when
Smith-Sampson 5
he needed to be, but gentle and loving especially to his only son any other time. As he was
showing Simba the kingdom, he warned Simba to not go to the place of shadows (Thomas,
Broderick and Irons). Simba later got into mischief with his friend Nala when they decided to
visit “an elephant graveyard” that his Uncle Scar told him about. This is where The Lion King
started to coincide with Hamlet. Scar wanted Simba to go to the elephant graveyard so that the
hyenas could attack and kill Simba. Scar was the younger brother of Mufasa and should have
been the next in line for the throne if it “hadn’t been for the hairball.” (Ingoglia 12)
In The Lion King, Scar was the only creature that had no real honor, unlike Hamlet where
even Claudius, had to some degree, a sense of misguided honor in the beginning of the story.
Scar was the only one not to show for Simba’s blessing ceremony earlier in the day. He was not
honorable, because he wanted Mufasa and Simba out of the way, he did not have the guts to kill
them himself. Claudius did poison his brother, so he showed that even though, he committed an
immoral act, and he had the courage to see the act to the end. His scrawny and almost comical
appearance, made everyone in the audience, especially the kids, know that he was the “bad guy.”
Claudius made a short speech first about his brother, but then quickly drew all the
attention to him. (Shakespeare 1.2). During this time, Claudius was still basically considered a
“decent guy,” but he started to paint a different picture to his audience about himself when he
went overboard with his “look how great I am speech.” He called Gertrude “the imperial
jointress to this warlike state.” (Shakespeare 1.2). According to previous description of King
Hamlet, Denmark was a peaceful state. He had already begun his plan to start wars against
Fortinbras, Jr. and Norway. His only transgression had been so far, that he married Queen
Gertrude within a month of the King’s death.
Smith-Sampson 6
Another kid friendly design of The Lion King was that there were only three male lions
and the rest of the pride was lionesses. Two of the males were decent and gained their strength
from their female counterparts. Sarabi and Nala were portrayed as the ultimate “huntresses.”
This differs in Hamlet, because the females were used as catalysts that tore entire families apart.
In an ironic twist of plots, Scar and they hyenas tore the pride of lions apart. The hyenas ate all
of the food. Scar destroyed the once beautiful Pride Rock.
Disney showed the females in the pride to be strong and nurturing. Even close to the
beginning of the movie, Simba’s mother, Sarabi, and Nala’s mother were nurturing their young
cubs by giving them baths. (Thomas, Broderick and Irons)
Sarabi was still the queen of the Pride Lands and very capable in her duties as queen.
She was proud and efficiently found food and was in charge of the other lionesses. Scar called
upon her when there was no more food. She had the strength to stand up to Scar and tell him,
“There’s no food-the herds have moved on. We have no choice. We must leave Pride Rock.”
(Ingoglia 84) She did not fear Scar even when he knocked with his paw to the ground. She was
courageous, and when she realized that Simba was back, she was more concerned about her
son’s welfare than she was her own.
Nala was also a strong female character for The Lion King. She was the second in charge
of the lionesses and took it upon herself to find help and more food. She showed her physical
strength when she was a child and was playing with Simba and could consistently pin him. When
she found Simba, she explained herself eloquently to him and Timon and Pumbaa. She
convinced Simba that his place was at Pride Rock. She became the new queen and mate to
Simba in the end, differing from every major character in Hamlet who died in the end.
Smith-Sampson 7
This differs drastically from the perception that was given to Queen Gertrude and
Ophelia. Both Queen Gertrude and Ophelia were portrayed as frail and pitiful. Gertrude was
already the queen, but she took orders from Claudius, and she never gave any orders to any of
her subjects. She was more of a puppet queen for Claudius. She was just the extra benefits
package that Claudius received when he became king. Gertrude humiliated herself and her
family by marrying her brother-in-law, less than a month after Hamlet, Sr.’s death. She showed
no real authority especially when she should have stood up to Claudius and her son, Hamlet.
Ophelia was a seemingly naïve young girl who did everything she was told to do by the
men in her life. Her brother, Laertes, warned her in Act 1, Scene 2, to “lose your heart or your
chaste treasure open to his unmastered importunity”. She did everything she was told to do by
her brother, her father, and Hamlet. Her weakness began to show after her father’s death and
she genuinely became mad. She committed the cardinal sin by committing suicide.
Sarabi did not humiliate herself in any way. She nurtured the entire pride and did not fall
victim to scandalous behavior. Sarabi was still considered the queen of the Pride Lands by
virtue of her original position being in charge of the lionesses. Even Scar had to call upon her
when there was no more food left. When Nala found Simba, she asked him to come back for
his mother’s sake. Simba still respected his mother enough to go back to her.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are compared to Timon and Pumbaa, but they are
extremely different characters. The only similarity between the friends of Hamlet and the friends
of Simba is that they all began their friendships having fun. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were
Hamlet’s friends at college. They represent a lifestyle where Hamlet had fun and was not
imprisoned in his tragic life after his father’s death. The two of them were summoned by King
Smith-Sampson 8
Claudius and Queen Gertrude because of Hamlet’s madness. They were childhood friends and
Hamlet spoke of them often. Claudius asked Rosencrantz and Guildenstern “to draw him on to
pleasures, and to gather So much as from occasion you may glean.” (Shakespeare 2.2) In the
end, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spied on Hamlet and betrayed his trust leaving Hamlet even
more disheartened than before they arrived.
Timon and Pumbaa were the comedy relief for Simba. They taught Simba to laugh
again and not to take life quite so seriously. They were used as the buffers to Simba’s sorrows
instead of his anxieties. Pumbaa felt so much love and admiration for his friend, Simba, that
when Nala started to follow Simba, Pumbaa answered when Timon asked, “Hey, …where’re you
goin’?” Nala answered that she was going and Pumbaa said,
“I’m going, too,” “Like Simba, who marches off into the face of death, I, too, go
to meet my destiny…as his faithful friend.” (Ingoglia 81)
They not only supported Simba in his trek to claim his lands back, but when “Simba reached the
edge of the Pride Lands, Pride Rock stood tall in the middle of the empty, parched plain.”
(Ingoglia 83)
In Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be,” Hamlet was genuinely depressed but was
also asking himself where he fit into “The Circle of His Life.” Unlike The Lion King, Simba
knew where he belonged in his “Circle of Life” but was still afraid of where he had belonged in
the “Circle. Hamlet carried his insanity act to extremes so that could finally seek justice for his
father’s death. The kid friendly version of Simba’s depression is reflected when he first met
Timon and Pumbaa, and Timon said, “He looks blue, and Pumbaa said he looked more like
brownish gold.” Then Timon said, “No, I mean he looked depressed.” (Thomas, Broderick and
Smith-Sampson 9
Irons). While Hamlet was being watched for possible insanity, Simba and his friends were
having an insanely good time with “Hakuna Matata”.
The settings of the two stories began very differently. The Lion King was celebrating
new life with the blessing ceremony of Simba from Rafiki. Everyone was happy and all of the
animals were in a spirit of continuity, love, and respect for their new prince. It was a very
joyous occasion filled with anticipation. The blessing ceremony in The Lion King signified that
there were some underlying Christian connotations. This blessing was the equivalent of the new
life in Christ.
Ironically, the Ghost in Hamlet was not given Last Rites when he died which should have
signified his death and rebirth with Christ, but instead he was sentenced to purgatory filled with
revenge and heartache. When Hamlet’s father was murdered, he could not fill his place in the
never ending circle of life.
“No reck’ning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head,
O horrible, o horrible, most horrible! (Shakespeare 1.5)
The opening scenes of Hamlet showed a great deal of anticipation also, but there was no
joy or warmth or prosperity to be found. The spirit of Hamlet’s father came to the night
watchmen on cold, dark dismal nights after midnight to disclose how he had died. Two nights
had passed and Horatio, a guard, tried to speak to the apparition. He and the other guard tried to
threaten the apparition to speak. The apparition was ready to speak when the cock crewed
(Shakespeare 1.1) . On the third night, Hamlet came out to speak to the apparition. The ghost
Smith-Sampson 10
told him a story of how his brother, Claudius, murdered him. He wanted Hamlet to avenge his
death.
Claudius confessed his sins in his prayers when he did not know that Hamlet was in the
room. Hamlet had the opportunity to kill Claudius then, but he showed mercy upon his uncle.
“I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
Why, this (hire) and (salary), not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread,
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And how his audit stand who knows save heaven.
But in our circumstance and course of thought
‘Tis heavy with him. And am I then revenged
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?
No.
Up sword, and know thou a more horrid hent.”
(He sheathes his sword) (Shakespeare 3.4)
Smith-Sampson 11
Simba was also willing to give his uncle a reprieve from death when he “paused briefly
considering his uncle’s plea. “Run away, Scar,” Simba ordered. “Go--- and never show your
face again.” (Ingoglia 90). The differences in character between Claudius and Scar began to
show. Claudius had developed a conscience and realized all of his horrible transgressions and
tried to think of way to absolve those transgressions. Scar, on the other hand, wanted to fill only
his narcisstic needs. He tricked Simba and struck back after he was ordered to leave. Simba
wanted to do the honorable thing towards his uncle, but his uncle had no honor. Simba told
Scar, “You’ve lost your chance!” “He grabbed Scar and heaved him over the edge. (Ingoglia
91).
Another very distinctive moment that was also very subtle in similarity, was the scene
where at least one of the actors in the play had to dress as the queen. There were no female
actors during Shakespeare’s time. Timon had a similar moment, "What do you want me to do,
dress in drag and do the hula?" was improvised by Nathan Lane. (Rovira). This very funny
scene in the movie took on the serious note of being eaten by hyenas and made it into a joke.
The kid friendly side of this would not have looked very kindly toward the good guys getting
killed.
Hamlet is called a tragedy for a reason. It is a tragic situation involving death,
destruction of a homeland, incest, and revenge. Every major character died in Hamlet. Life
could not go on for any of those characters because “justice” and “purpose” was served. The
“Circle of Life” (Thomas, Broderick and Irons) for Hamlet was very jagged. Those are not
factors of a “happily ever after” kids fairy tale. Even though The Lion King does touch upon
some of those subjects, they are “dumbed down” so as not to be so brutal or even not politically
correct. According to the Internet Movie Database, “when writer Irene Mecchi came on board,
Smith-Sampson 12
she was told that the story pitch was "Bambi (1942) in Africa meets Hamlet (1990/I)", or
"Bamlet", as she termed it.
The weather was a major contributor in both stories towards the overall mood of each
story. The Lion King weather patterns differed significantly from the weather patterns of
Hamlet. The Lion King began,
“The moon had vanished. One by one the stars faded from the cold nights sky.
Behind the dark eastern hills, the sun rose, turning the flat-topped acacia trees
from black to green. Once again it was dawn in Africa.” (Ingoglia 5)
When Mufasa was explaining to Simba where his kingdom would be, he used the sun rays to
mark the territory.
“Look at the rays of the rising sun, Simba,” the king told him. “Everything the
light touches is our kingdom.
Simba was impressed, “That’s just about everywhere!”
“A king’s time as ruler rises and falls like the sun,” his father said. “One day the
sun will set on my time here. It will rise with you as the new king.”
…”What about that shadowy place?” he (Simba) asked.”
“That’s beyond our borders,” said Mufasa. You must never go there, my son.”
(Ingoglia 16)
Smith-Sampson 13
WORKS CITED
Gale, Thomson. "The Lion King Summary." 2005-2006. Thomson Gale. 15 March 2010 <http://www.bookrags.com/research/the-lion-king-sjpc-03/>.
Ingoglia, Gina. Disney's The Lion King. New York: Disney Press, 1994.
"Monkey Notes Study Guide." 1997-2000. PinkMonkey.com. Ed. Diane Sauder. 9 March 2010 <http://pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmHamlet01.asp>.
Rovira, Jim. "Metaphilm: Lion King." 16 September 2003. http://thephilosopersstone.blogspot.com/. 16 March 2010.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1992.
—. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1992.
The Lion King. Dirs. Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. Perf. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, et al. Prods. Alice Dewey, et al. 1994.
"Wetpaint." February 2010. 15 March 2010 <http://englishplace.wetpaint.com/page/Hamlet+and+The+Lion+King>.