I have already discussed Hamlet and Lion King, in this article about the similarities. If you haven’t read “Hamlet – Part 1” click the link and read.

Similarities of characters

The king of Pride Lands, Mufasa and Hamlet, king of Denmark has only child Simba and Prince Hamlet. Both Simba and Hamlet don’t have siblings. Scar, the evil uncle of Simba and Claudius, jealous uncle of Hamlet, kill their brother to take up the throne. King Mufasa and King Hamlet die as per the plan of their brother. Later they appear as the ghost to their son to give clues about their death. They want them to avenge their uncle for their death.

Polonius and Zuzu were always with King Hamlet and King Mufasa as the chief counsellor and Majordomo. In the play, Polonius stays faithful to king Hamlet till death and later joins hands with Claudius. Zuzu in the movie stays faithful to the king. So Scar prisons him. Hamlet has a friend from college, Horatio. Though Horatio does not have as big of an impact on Hamlet as Timone and Pumbaa have on Simba, he does help Hamlet on several occasions and can be considered a true friend. Horatio and Rafiki play a major role to avenge King’s death because they make Hamlet and Simba see their father’s spirit.

Theme

Revenge is the basic theme of both the movie and play, The Lion King and Hamlet. Prince Hamlet gets a hint that his uncle had killed his father.  So he stages a play to confirm that his uncle is guilty of his act. Once Claudius shows his guilt during the play, Hamlet decides to take revenge on his evil uncle. Until the appearance of King Mufasa to Simba, Simba believed that he was the reason for his father’s death.  He goes back to Pride Lands. Scar confesses the truth about Mufasa’s murder. This makes Simba angry and he kills Scar. In the end, he regains the Kingship of the Pride Lands. It is an act of indirect revenge by Simba towards Scar for killing his father.

Climax

In the Lion King, only two characters, Mufasa and Scar, die. The rest live happily ever after once the circle of life is restored along with the rightful king. Simba and Nala even get married and have a baby. In Hamlet, main characters like King Hamlet, Prince Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia and a few other characters die. Fortinbras, seeing the entire Danish royal family dead, takes the crown for himself, and orders a military funeral to honour Hamlet.