ampede Mufasa and Simba, he only manages to kill one of them. In order to eliminate Simba and therefore take the throne, he convinces the young cub to run away and never return. In this sense, The Lion King is similar to Hamlet's boarding a boat set for England with papers comissioning his own death (5.2 20-25). But Simba does not outsmart the hyenas who Scar commands to kill him, he merely outruns them. In exile, he meets Timon and Pumbaa who urge him to put his past behind him and live the good life. But try as he might, Simba cannot escape the guilt or the sense of responsibility that he feels. After Nala finds him living in paradise and ignoring the misery of his rightful kingdom, she urges him to return to Pride Rock. He then has his one and only soliloquoy, illustrating his inability to act. It resembles several of Hamlet's speeches, for example: Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause And can say and do nothing; no, not for a kingUpon whose property and most dear life A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?(3.1 546-551)Compare this to Simba's words: "She's wrong. I can't go back. What would it prove? It won't change anything. You can't change the past. [to the skies] You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not. It's because of me. It's my faulty. It's my fault." A reversal occurs once Simba returns, where Scar accuses him of causing Mufasa's death and Simba accetps the blame. This is the opposite of the Mouse-trap scene, where Hamlet establishes Claudius' guilt by staging the murder of his father. However, just before Scar's death, he is forced to admit that he is responsible. Simba then gathers the strength to save his kingdom from its ruler and restore the fertility of the land.Hamlet does not survive this final battle as Simba does, but he does leave a lesson to those who survive. Horatio, at the play's end, recounts the tale of Hamlet to justify his cause.The plot...
