Essay Example:
Comparing Hamlet and The Lion King
Original Title!!!!!!!!!!
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is without
question the most famous play in the English
language. Hamlet is a play about a character's
struggles with the opposing forces of moral
integrity and the need to avenge his father's
murder. Disney's The Lion King is an awardwinning film about a young lion cub named
Simba and his struggles against himself and
reality. The movie, The Lion King, and the play,
Hamlet, both have a similar storyline.
Shakespeare's Hamlet and Disney's The Lion
King contain similar events such as the king is
killed and revenge is sought by the kings’ sons,
the murderers are the kings’ brothers who want
the power of the throne, and blah, blah, blah.
Throughout Hamlet and The Lion King
numerous examples link both of these stories
together. The first example of comparing
Shakespeare's Hamlet to Disney's The Lion King
is in both stories the king is killed and revenge is
sought by the king's son. The murderers in the
stories are both the kings’ brothers who want
the power of the throne. In Hamlet, Claudius is
the murderer of King Hamlet and in The Lion
King Scar is the murderer of Mufasa. After the
death of the kings, both of the villains took over
the kingdoms.
Another example that ties both of these
stories together is that neither of the princes,
Hamlet and Simba, liked the villains. In
addition, 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 to avenge their father's death.
The outside force in Hamlet was the ghost that
appeared to him and told him that Claudius
has . . .
Third paragraph
Concluding paragraph
How to write a comparison essay:
1st paragraph
• Catch audience’s attention in the first
sentence
• Introduce the plot of each
• Mention that they have similar storylines
• Thesis—mention all three elements you will
discuss
2nd paragraph
• Introduce the first similarity
• Give details about the first similarity
• Discuss the effect this first similarity has on
the storyline
3rd paragraph
• Introduce the second similarity
• Give details about the second similarity
• Discuss the effect this second similarity has
on the storyline
4th paragraph
• Introduce the third similarity
• Give details about the third similarity
• Discuss the effect this third similarity has on
the storyline
5th paragraph
• Recap the three elements you explored
• Don’t introduce any new information
• Teach/enlighten the audience something in
the last sentence