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Leanna Yeager
Dr. Johnson
Shakespeare
December 4, 2013
“Hakuna Matata”: Shakespeare Should Be “No Worries” for the Younger Generation
William Shakespeare is a timeless writer who is known for his elegant, poetic language
written in perfect iambic pentameter and his use of universal themes. There are many individuals
who enjoy Shakespeare’s classical writing, but there is a great amount of people who do not
necessarily enjoy his works; this group of people would be the younger generation or also known
as high school students (Cunningham).
Secondary education scholars and policy makers currently engage in a debate on whether
some writers should be taught in school curriculums in the United States. William Shakespeare is
one of these writers. Those opposed to having Shakespeare in school curriculums argue that
Shakespeare’s language is difficult to understand and students cannot make connections of
Shakespeare’s plays to reflect on for their own lives. Those who agree to have Shakespeare in
their curriculums, like Karen Cunningham, believe that his works “enrich” our language and his
themes are universal to everyday life. It is necessary for educators to identify strategic methods
to make this material easier to grasp and understand. Through the course of time, film, media,
and stage producers have adapted Shakespearean plays, and some of these adaptations have been
created by the Walt Disney Company. The Lion King serves as an excellent adaptation to Hamlet
to attract the younger generation. The Broadway production and Julie Taymor’s work on the
piece is another tool to attract young people and spark interest in Shakespeare and the theater. I
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have discovered proof of how these two adaptations help make understanding Hamlet easier in a
secondary English classroom.
English teachers understand how difficult and rigorous it is for students to study the
works of William Shakespeare. Jim Cope, an English teacher who wrote about the effect of
reading tells of his past experience with students with “their reactions beginning and ending with
moans.” In his article, he discusses the complaints of one of his students when they were
discussing Shakespeare in the classroom:
I most definitely hate reading Shakespeare’s plays. Poetry is very hard for me to
understand. Shakespeare’s plays are even harder for me to comprehend. The words
seem to be backwards or out of order. I hate the language. (Cope)
This is a common complaint among many students who are told that they must read a play for
class. These students think that Shakespeare is impossible to translate into today’s modern
English. Cope gives advice to educators that students should not be reading Shakespeare’s plays
like a typical novel. He believes that the best way to teach students Shakespeare’s lines are to
give the students a visual and watch the difficult language be played out: “Plays are meant to be
heard and seen. They are not to sit on the page and be dissected” (Cope). Adaptations in media
are prime examples of these visuals. Lois Burdett, another profound English teacher also states
that “using adaptations to help introduce literary elements of a complex text can help students
drastically in the study of Shakespeare” (Shaw).
The Walt Disney Company depended on William Shakespeare’s plot for helping The
Lion King reach as much success it has gained. The Lion King is a loose adaptation of Hamlet by
containing the skeleton of the plot. The two plots can be comparable in various literary elements,
such as the strands of the plot, characters, and themes (Fenlon). Certain lines of the two
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productions can also be compared with Shakespeare’s English language with our modern English
language.
The plots of Hamlet and The Lion King are similar in a variety of ways. The general plot
of Hamlet begins when young Prince Hamlet is approached by the ghost of his late father, King
Hamlet of Denmark. King Hamlet tells that he has been poisoned by his brother, Claudius. King
Hamlet asks young Hamlet to seek revenge for his father. Throughout the play, Hamlet
contemplates how he is going to kill his uncle. Hamlet is eventually exiled from Denmark to
England after murdering a minor character, Polonius, after mistaking him for Claudius. Claudius
sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to have Hamlet murdered, so he cannot try and come back
for the throne. Hamlet then returns with a moving theatre company to try to pull out Claudius’
guilt of his crime. As the play concludes, Claudius, Hamlet, and many other characters fight to
the death. Claudius dies at the end of the play, but unfortunately, so does Hamlet by a poisoned
sword blade. The plot of The Lion King follows in a similar way.
In the opening scenes of The Lion King, viewers see an infant Simba being presented on
the top of Pride Rock. The first half of the film shows the father-son bond Mufasa and Simba
build as Simba grows up. Unfortunately, Mufasa is killed by Scar during a wildebeest stampede
while trying to save young Simba; Scar throws Mufasa down the side of a gorge. After Simba
views his father’s dead body, Scar tells Simba that it is his fault and should leave the Pride
Lands. Scar then sends his hyena henchmen to kill him. Simba escapes and is found in a desert
by a meerkat, Timon, and a warthog, Pumba, who raise him through adolescence. One night,
Simba is summoned by a vision of his father in the stars, and tells that he must return to Pride
Rock to become king. After much convincing from his friend, Nala, Simba decides to return to
fight Scar for his kingdom. Simba reaches Pride Rock and defeats Scar. Pride Rock is now ruled
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by the appropriate and rightful king. Although the plots may seem similar to a young generation,
there are a couple main differences that teachers must show their students.
The first main difference is the opening scenes of the play. Hamlet is greeted by his
ghostly father and the scene is set “in media res,” meaning that the play starts in the middle of an
action and the viewer/reader does not have any previous information. Viewers never see the
father-son bond between Hamlet and King Hamlet like they see Mufasa and Simba’s in The Lion
King. Viewers see this bonding with Mufasa and Simba when Mufasa tells him that he will not
be alive forever and the kingdom will become his; “A king's time as ruler rises and falls like the
sun. One day Simba, the sun will set on my time here- and will rise with you as the new king”
(Pollard). The second main difference between the two productions is the ending. Hamlet is a
well-known and famous Shakespearean tragedy in which most of the characters, including the
protagonist, die a horrific death. This is not the case of The Lion King. The aspect of tragedy is
taken out of The Lion King to make it appropriate for the younger audience (Fenlon). Everyone
in Pride Rock lives “happily-ever after.” The plot is just one way the two productions can be
compared; the characters hold many similarities as well.
Disney analyst, Wesley Fenlon, describes the comparisons between the characters in
Hamlet and in The Lion King. It is very easy for a high school teacher to have students make
character analyses and comparisons of the main characters in the two productions. Simba of
course is the character that represents Prince Hamlet, who endures a journey/conflict to rightfully
take back his throne from his evil uncle. Dark-maned and green-eyed Scar plays the villain in the
film and represents Hamlet’s murderous and power-hungry uncle Claudius. Mufasa, Simba’s
father, serves as the representation of King Hamlet. The dynamic duo of Timon and Pumba are
comparable to the comic relief characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who work under
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Claudius while Hamlet is in exile from Denmark. Although Timon and Pumba are friends of
Simba in The Lion King, Fenlon states that “Hakuna Matata” pair “indirectly accomplishes the
same goal by keeping Simba away from the Pride Lands and his position of leadership.”
Characterization is important in two plots, but the themes are where students struggle.
Rosemarie Gavin is an educator that believes that “linking a Shakespearean play to a
popular children’s movie helps students read and understand.” The central themes of the story
are also considered when teaching Hamlet in a high school English classroom. Students have
trouble reflecting these themes into their everyday life. One such theme is the archetype of the
exiled child. The exiled child has the role to restore the order in the world. They are the ones
who have a heroic task. Simba and Hamlet prove this archetype based on the demands of their
ghostly fathers. Both of these protagonists each go through a journey to get their throne. Students
can gain better understanding of this theme by realizing that they can become heroes in their own
lifetime. It may not be to restore peace in a kingdom, but they should know that they can make a
difference (Gavin).
The other major themes are revenge and responsibility. Simba and Hamlet gain their
revenge obviously by killing their chaos-making uncles. The theme of responsibility is observed
when the protagonists try to find their way back to the kingdom from exile. They feel the
responsibility to return to their homelands because of the respect for their fathers (Gavin). This is
seen in a discussion between Hamlet and his two friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:
I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of
exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this
brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire,—why, it
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appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a
piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and
moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how
like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this
quintessence of dust? (Shakespeare 2.2, 287-298)
Hamlet is mourning the loss of his father and sees him as an admirable man. A son who sees his
father in this light is a son that would do anything for his father, even after death. He feels the
responsibility to listen to his father through admiration. This feeling of admiration for his father
is seen in The Lion King when Simba talks to Timon and Pumba about his thoughts of the stars
above; “somebody once told me that the great kings of the past are up there; watching over us”
(Pollod). Simba is referring to Mufasa, who told him this phrase in the beginning scenes of the
film; this sparks Simba’s sense of responsibility when he has the realization that he has to return
to the Pride Land. The themes of these two productions are seen as universal to many teachers.
Managing the themes and their relation to students are one of the main worries for studying
Shakespeare in a high school English class. The next problem is language.
Teachers can break down Shakespeare’s language by taking passages and comparing
them to lines in The Lion King. For example, comparisons of lines can be drawn in the two ghost
scenes. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder, “(Shakespeare 1.5, 6) is what King
Hamlet requests of his living son. Claudius is not fit to rule Denmark. Simba experiences the
same when he sees the vision of Mufasa in the stars. Simba does not feel adequate to go back and
get the throne, but Mufasa tells him otherwise; “You have forgotten who you are, and so have
forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must
take your place in the Circle of Life” (Pollard). Revenge must be made for Simba to take back
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his “place.” Before the fathers disappear to their afterlives, they tell their sons to remember them.
King Hamlet says, “Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me,” (Shakespeare 1.5, 91), while Mufasa
leaves Simba with a simple “Remember” (Pollard). The movie adaptation of The Lion King is
one of the great ways to compare the literary elements and understanding of Hamlet; however,
there is another way to teach the young generation.
William Shakespeare wrote his plays for them to be performed on stage. He was also
well-known for his controversial plays and brilliant stage ideas. Education critic, David Roberts
explains that students need to be interactive with Shakespeare’s plays to better understand them,
which means acting out the lines themselves. Students who participate in this role play “live
through the story, discovering it as they go, and contributing from their own perception of
character and relationships” (Roberts 352). This allows close readings of texts that can create
activities in the classroom. An example of this type of activity would be for a teacher to act as a
“director” and try to take out key passages out of the play. The student would take a role as one
of the characters and defend why those lines should not be taken out. This type of activity lets
the student test their textual analysis, comprehension, and creativity (Roberts). It is also crucial
that students understand the nature of the theater and its openness to creativity, and that is
exactly what director, Julie Taymor does.
Julie Taymor is one of the most popular directors to hit the Broadway stage and film. In
her career, she has done many adaptations of Shakespearean plays. One of her adaptations
includes the Broadway production of The Lion King. Much like Shakespeare, Taymor has
methods out of the ordinary; “I told them I wanted to go for elegance, not cute. The Lion King is
a very commercial work, but what they’ve let me do is very experimental” (Zoglin). Taymor’s
experiments include a bright and colorful stage, and the performers acting with puppets instead
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of being in the costume of the actual animal. Although Taymor went for elegance for this
production, she finds many learning opportunities from The Lion King; “I like the message of
The Lion King” (Anderson 70). Taymor enjoys the message and themes that the show presents to
young children. She believes they are themes that children can reflect on for the rest of their
lives. Taymor also find The Lion King to be a stepping stone for those who are interested and
want to learn more about the theatre and bond with their families:
You know what I love about The Lion King'? It's really theatre operating in its
original sense, which is about family and society. It's doing exactly what theatre
was born for—to reaffirm where we are as human beings in our environment. It's
precisely to reestablish your connection with your family, to know what your hierarchy
is. And to watch families come and go through that with their children is a
very moving experience for me. (Anderson 75)
Although Taymor has left the Broadway production for a few years now, she sees the benefits it
gives young children. She gives children the opportunity to enjoy the theatre and gain a better
understanding of Shakespeare’s basic plot (Berstein).
The methods of teaching Shakespeare have been a constant debate over the past century
because of his complexity. It is proven that Shakespeare’s Hamlet can follow the “Hakuna
Matata” philosophy and be taught with “no worries” through various adaptations of The Lion
King. Teachers can teach the content through various comparisons of literary elements, as well as
the differences. With these adaptations, it is easier for educators to decide that Shakespeare
should stay in the high school curriculums.
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Works Cited
Anderson, Thomas P. “Titus, Broadway, and Disney’s Magic Capitalism; Or, The Wonderful
World of Julie Taymore.” College Literature 40.1 (2013): 66-95. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
Bernstein, Jacob. "Julie Taymor Roars." Newsweek 159.22 (2012): 52-55. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
Cope, Jim. "Beyond Voices Of Readers: Students On School's Effects On Reading." English
Journal 86.3 (1997): 18. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
Cunningham , Karen. “Shakespeare, the Public, and Public Education.” Shakespeare Quarterly
49.3 (1998): 293-298. JSTOR. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.
Fenlon, Wesley. “The Lion King: Shakespearean Tragedy Reinvented at Disney's Peak.”
Screened. 28 Oct. 2011.Web. 3 Sept. 2013.
Gavin, Rosemarie. "The Lion King And Hamlet: A Homecoming For The Exiled Child." English
Journal 85.3 (1996): 55.Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
Roberts, David. “Shakespeare, Theater Criticism, and the Acting Tradition.” Shakespeare
Quarterly 53.3 (2002): 341-361. JSTOR. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.
Pollard, Phil. “The Lion King-Script.” Walt Disney Company. New York: Walt Disney
Company, 1993. Print.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Norton Shakespeare: Essential Plays – The Sonnets.
Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2009. 1080-1168. Print.
Shaw, Donna. "Much Ado About William." Curriculum Administrator 35.5 (1999): 46.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.
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Zoglin, Richard. "The Lion King A Different Breed Of `Cats.'." Time 150.4 (1997): 64.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Sept. 2013