According to
Wikipedia - Rapunzel, the villainess has been called 'Gothel' for quite some time. Her role in the story varies: In some stories, she is a grotesque witch (her appearance owing to the fact that she is evil); while in others, she is merely a herbalist/medicine woman, who, upon discovering a thief in her garden (Rapunzel's father, of course), strikes a bargain with him -- in exchange for the much-desired herbs (and therefore his wife's and unborn baby's good health) -- the couple must offer her their child, upon its birth!
In
Tangled, the story is only slightly tweaked: Gothel is just a woman in need of a 'fountain of youth'; so craves a magical flowering plant -- which eventually leads her to kidnap a young princess from her cradle! Also, Gothel's later obsession with keeping Rapunzel locked up in the tower, is explored; while reading
Tangled - An in-depth analysis of Mother Gothel, through the eyes of a four year old! And you're right: These tales really ARE 'as old as time'!
You're also right about
The Lion King's first two movies:
1 =
Hamlet;
2 =
Romeo and Juliet. But you might be interested to learn that Simba's story also borrows elements from the historical figures (and prophets of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths),
Joseph and
Moses. Both
historical figures' stories lend credence to the "favourite son, who was later cruelly driven away from home -- only to assume power, as an adult (Joseph); but was also seeming unrecognisable, upon his return (as in Moses' case)." The rest is pure Shakespeare.
But it was as much for Simba's inner child, as much as his concern for his fast-growing daughter's safety; that the overprotective dad behaved as he did; as is explored in
Character Psychology - Scar, Simba and Zira and
Simba's Leadership – A Socio-Symbolic Content Analysis and its Empirical Examination among Children and Students. (What a mouthful!
) As sad as it sounds, even as an adult; Simba wasn't far removed, from the little cub who witnessed his dad's murder in the gorge -- only for the perpetrator to blame him for causing such a nasty 'accident'..!