Comparitive Essay
... which The Lion King takes place is unknown. Macbeth takes place in the 1600’s. The characters in Macbeth are humans, unlike the characters in The Lion King who are animals. This is a difference in the setting because of the environment animals are in compared to humans. The two plots of these stories are quite similar with one aspect being the death of a king. In The Lion King, Mufasa the king is killed by his brother Scar. Likewise in Macbeth, King Duncan of Scotland is murdered by Macbeth. Both Mufasa and Duncan trusted the characters who killed them. A quote from Macbeth proving this is when this is said: “Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope the Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thence the life o’ the building.” [2.3.72-74] This shows the horror of the discovery of Duncan’s murder. Unlike Macbeth, there is more emphasis on the son of the king in the story. His name is Simba and a lot of the story-line is based around him because he is to become King. Another similarity between these plots, is the death of the ruthless, new-ruling king. Scar is killed by Simba in The Lion King and Macbeth is killed by Macduff. Another difference in the plots is the fact that Macbeth has a wife while Scar does not. Lady Macbeth plays an important role in the murders. The theme to Macbeth is like The Lion King’s in one way that is they are both about tragedy in life and the comeback from it. Many characters are murdered in Macbeth, such as Macduff’s family. This murder was announced by Ross. “Your castle is surprised; your wife, and babes savagely slaughter’d.” [4.3.236-237] Macbeth is told three prophecies from three witches which state that he will become king. Macbeth becomes obsessed with the prophecies and will do anything to make them come true. This is part of the theme because it shows how you should take everything with a “grain of salt”. If not, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble. This sort of thing happens in The Lion King as well. Scar tells Simba to run away because he killed Mufasa. Both Macbeth and The Lion King truly show how the strong survives and evil gets what it deserves. Simba defeats his evil uncle, takes throne and returns everything back to normal. Likewise, this happens in Macbeth. The son of Duncan (Malcolm) was heir to the throne and is determined to beat Macbeth. Macduff kills Macbeth. “I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff; and damn’d be him that first cries ‘Had, enough!’”[5.8.38-39] Macbeth is dead after this statement. A child can easily see some of the similarities between the different characters in Macbeth and The Lion King. Probably the first...