hings have deteriorated since Claudius took the throne. Since we cannot see the geographical setting that lies beyond the stage in Hamlet, we are constantly reminded of the sick state by characters and events: the undertones of incest, the drunken revelries of the marriage feast, and the impending threat of invasion from Norway. The Lion King does not have the restrictions of the stage, and therefore we can actually see the physical landscape turn from paradise into a wasteland under Scar's rule. At the beginning of the movie, we are shown the elephant graveyard where the hyenas live. Once Scar allows the hyenas to venture beyond the borders and into his kingdom, the entire land looks like this graveyard - gray, barren, and parched, with niether food nor water. Suddenly there is a striking resemblance to Denmark in Hamlet's opening scene. There is no need to explore the political unrest or poisoned gene pool; Disney has converted all psychological and emotional complexities into the visible deterioration of the physical landscape. And when Simba comes back and conquers Scar at the end of the movie, it begins to rain almost instantly, putting out the raging fire that has spontaneously caught during the final battle, and instantaneously bringing new life to the landscape. No such luck for Hamlet - because he and everyone around him is ultimately destroyed at the end of the play, it leaves Denmark wide open to the threat of hyenas. But Hamlet does ask Horatio to live to tell the tale; in such a grim ending, the hope is that in the future Denmark will not repeat these mistakes.Another means of comparing Hamlet to The Lion King examines the character correspondance between these two works. We can identify the basic similarities: the king Mufasa is Old Hamlet, and his wife Sarabi is Gertrude. For Disney's purposes, no discussion takes placeof her re-marriage to the evil uncle Scar, no admonitions from Simba: "Nay, but to live / in the rank sw...
