comparison essay on cinderella and hamlet

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Introduction
This paper provides comprehensive comparative analysis of two well-received films by many movie lovers with a focus to their similarities and differences. The films are known as Cinderella that was produced in the year 1950 and the Hamlet whose production was in the year 1948. The major comparative aspects between the two films include there themes, script writing, movie plot, plot setting and production quality.
Thesis statement: The two films may have similar aspects, but they may as well be very different from one another.
Comparison of the Cinderella (1950) film with the Hamlet (1948) film
The Cinderella (1950) movie is a film that revolves around the life of a beautiful girl by the name Cinderella. In the movie, Cinderella is brought up a widowed father who dies unexpectedly after remarrying another wife. Cinderella is taken under the care of a cruel and selfish stepmother and stepsisters but grows up to be a polite and gentle woman. Finally, Cinderella meets the prince of their town and they both fall in love with each other. The movie ends up with the two of them getting married despite her stepmother’s effort to lock up Cinderella so that she does not meet the Prince (Cinderella 1950 movie).
Hamlet, on the other hand, is a movie adopted from Shakespeare’s play called “Hamlet” (Boose & Burt 2). The film begins with three sentries watching over the battlements to see if there was a ghost. They manage to see the ghost, but the ghost refuses to speak to them.

The ghost is later revealed as the prince Hamlet’s father who is the protagonist in the movie and whose father was killed by poisoning when he was the king. The film progresses with Prince Hamlet seeking for revenge of his father’s homicide. Events unfold themselves, and eventually he succeeds to revenge his father’s death by killing the character who coincidentally was his lover’s father (Hamlet 1948 movie).
Comparatively, the two movies are fascinating as they portray themes such as love, conspiracy, revenge and hate (Silverblatt et al. 49). The plots of the two movies are also quite similar and yet quite different. For instance, the towns/cities in which the two movies were set were under the administration of kings.
Comparative aspects of the films based on the similarities
Themes
The two films are similar in that they portray related themes of love, hate, and conspiracy.
Romance/Love – in the Cinderella (1950) film, Cinderella falls in love with the prince who coincidentally was looking for a woman to marry. The two first met in the ball where the prince rejected all other women but fell in love with Cinderella. In the Hamlet film, Prince Hamlet was in love with Ophelia whose father was involved in the plot to kill Prince Hamlet’s father. The theme of romance was wildly explored by the two films with different characters (protagonists) facing a difficult circumstance and have to fight for their love.
Hate – Hate/maliciousness is another theme that was widely observed in the two films. Cinderella’s stepmother starts to hate Cinderella as soon as her father passes on. In Hamlet, the Prince Hamlet hates Claudius, who killed his father and ended up murdering him.
Conspiracy – In the two films, there are secrets that are revealed making the two films very fascinating. In the Cinderella film, the owner of the glass shoe was finally revealed after the prince went around the town to look for the owner. In Hamlet, the secret of who killed King Hamlet was also revealed by the late King Hamlet himself.
The use of Ghosts in the movie plot
The second similarity between the two movies is the idea of ghosts in the films. In the Cinderella (1950) movie, Cinderella’s Godmother who mended her ball gown using her magic appeared in the form of a ghost. She turns the dress to an, even more, beautiful gown than it was before her stepmother cut it into pieces. The Godmother was a saint to Cinderella as she helped her achieve her desires to meet and fall in love with the prince. The relationship eventually led to marriage. In the Hamlet (1948) film, there is also the idea of a ghost appearing in the film. In the movie, the late King Hamlet appears to his son, Prince Hamlet in the form of a ghost and he shows him the events that led to his death. Prince Hamlet then begins his mission to revenge the death of his father and finally succeeds.
The Form of governance
The form of governance of cities in which the two films were set was similar. For instance, in the Hamlet (1948) film, the type of governance was a monarchial government where they were ruled by a king. In the Cinderella (1950) film, the form of government was also under the administration of the king whose prince fell in love with Cinderella.
Scriptwriting
The two films have similar aspects on the styles that were used in writing the scripts. In the Cinderella (1950) movie, styles such as the use of coincidence are portrayed in the movie (Rylant and Blair 58). Coincidence in the movie is portrayed where Cinderella and the Prince meet in the ball and fall in love with each other without their expectations. In the Hamlet (1948), as Prince Hamlet was being deported to England when pirates coincidentally invaded the ship in which they were in. He was taken back to Denmark and there he was able to fulfill his mission. Also, coincidence can be observed where Prince Hamlet falls in love with a woman whose father plotted the killing of his father. Coincidence has been widely used in the two films.
Plot settings
The two movies were produced in the same time settings in history. Cinderella (1950) film was set in 1950 while Hamlet was set in 1948. This time, in history, was the post second world war period. The usage of a king in leadership also portrays the oldness of the two movies, as kings were more powerful in the older days of the post second world war period. The two movies have been set on the same period with only a difference of two years between the times in which the two films were set.
However, the two films also contain some different aspects. For instance, the Cinderella (1950) film is a fairy tale while the Hamlet (1948) film is an action-romance movie. Similarly, Cinderella ends with a happy-ever-after scene while Hamlet ends in a horrible end.
Conclusion
Indeed, the two films share various comparative elements. The elements that are majorly based on the underlying similarities depict how movie producers adhere to the standards of film production. In particular, the films have comparable themes that revolve around love and conspiracy, scriptwriting, plot setting among other elements. Based on the discussions above, the similarities between the two films are more than the difference hence the two films can be concluded as similar or alike in comparison.

Works Cited
Boose, Lynda, and Burt, Richard, Shakespeare, The Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV and Video. Routledge publishers, 2005. Print.
Cinderella (1950) movie. Accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFg28c0-M8I [14th December 2015]
Hamlet (1948) film. Accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAmMq3i3Hc [14th December 2015]
Rylant, Cynthia, and Blair, Mary. Walt Disney’s Cinderella. , 2015. Print.
Silverblatt, A., Ferry, J., and Finan, B., Approaches to Media Literacy: A Handbook. Routledge publisher, 2015. Print.