s nevertheless continue his relentless investigation. His detective's determination flags noticeably, but his need to know the truth, as king and as man, drives him forward.
Oedipus runs into another hard truth when he discovers that not only is he the killer, but the man he killed was his father, and he then married his mother. Hamlet is informed of the fact that his uncle has killed his father early in the play, as his father's ghost reports: "The serpent that did sting thy father's life/ Now wears his crown" (Shakespeare 741). Oedipus is a vibrant leader when his detective work begins, and he is driven to madness by the truth he finds. Hamlet, on the other hand, is stricken with grief an
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