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...
... middle of paper ...
...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.
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...
Hamlet decides that if he can convince everyone that he is insane, then maybe he will be able to get someone to tell him more about his father’s murder. In The Lion King, Simba is the prince. Simba’s father, Mufasa, is killed after he falls from a cliff into a herd of hyenas. Simba falls into a deep depression after his uncle Scar twists things around and convinces Simba that he is the one responsible for the Mufasa’s death. Simba can not deal with what has happened and he runs away from the kingdom.
Throughout Shakespeare?s play, Hamlet, the main character, young Hamlet, is faced with the responsibility of attaining vengeance for his father?s murder. He decides to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.
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.
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...
Many perceive The Lion King, Disney's most successful movie to date, as Disney's only original movie; the only movie not previously a fairy tale from one country or another. This, however, is not the case. While The Lion King seems not to be beased on a fairy tale, it is in fact strongly based on the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Disney writers cleverly conceal the basic character archetypes and simplified storyline in a children's tale of cute lions in Africa. To the seasoned reader, however, Hamlet comes screaming out of the screenplay as obviously as Hamlet performed onstage.
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.
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.
Both Simba and Hamlet delay their actions of justice for their own father's deaths. The loss of their fathers leaves Hamlet with a melancholy behavior, and Simba without guidance through his worst times and a father during his fragile years. Both of them runs from their responsibilities, although on the inside they know what must be done (Hamlet attempts to figure out if what the ghost said is true or not while Simba hides from his past). Also, the characters of Hamlet Sr. and Mufasa has a striking resemblance to one another, not only in their actions, but their meanings as
Did you know that The Lion King was based of off Hamlet? Hamlet is by William Shakespeare and The Lion King is by Walt Disney and Don Hahn. The Lion King is a good adaptation of Hamlet because they both have powerful men such as Simba and Scar and Hamlet and Claudius. They both also have brothers who killed their brothers so they could become the king and take over the land. They also incorporated the language of Shakespeare into The Lion King as they did in Hamlet. In these movies you will realize how similar The Lion King is with Hamlet.
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
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 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.
Major life changes bring about the rise of Hamlet's insanity. The play begins with Hamlet returning home to Denmark to discover that his father had died. Aside from his father's death, Hamlet also had to accept that his mother was now married to his father's brother, Claudius. In Hamlet's first soliloquy preceding his father's death, he tells the audience “O that this too, too solid flesh would melt. Or that the Everlasting had not fixed, His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!”(Act 1. Scene 2. lines 130-133) This gives us a brief preview of Hamlet's mental state in the beginning of the play. Hamlet is extremely depressed and admits that but says it would be a sin to kill himself. Hamlet goes on to describe the world as "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" and compares it to an "unweeded garden” (Act 1. Scene 2. lines 133-135). Hamlet shows red flags for depression; however, he seems to be reacting as a normal person would to the death of a loved one, losing a sense of understanding and love fo...
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.