Hamlet and Oedipus are two historic characters of literature who embody the tragic hero. Consigned against all odds and enemies, they are both persistent in their journey for truth. The similarity of these two great characters unifies through their royal positioning and their individual belief that it is up to them to save their respective states. Yet they differ in conducts of intelligence and pride towards purifying their kingdom. The theme of the tormented king is conceivably the strongest comparison between Hamlet and Oedipus. In "Hamlet," Shakespeare ascertains the theme of torment quickly in the play with the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet's murdered father, the former King of Denmark. Yet even before the burden of knowing his father murder, Shakespeare advocates some uncertainty in Hamlet's mind: "My father, I thinks I see my father, in my minds eye". (I.II.183) This quote abets the audience to understand Hamlet as the tormented prince of Denmark, which is continually established to be melancholy, acrimonious, pessimistic, and full of hatred. "How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. Seem to me all the uses of this world!" (I.II.133-4.) Whereas Sophocles has Oedipus presaging his own demise at the start of the play when addressing the people of Thebes “And on the murderer this curse I lay on him and all the partners in his guilt... Wretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness!” (244-246) The city suffers because of the effluence of Oedipus. Leroy Searle explores in “The conscience of the king: Oedipus, Hamlet, and the problem.." that the rising and falling actions of Hamlet and Oedipus are similar in their predicament of ignorance. This ignorance is seen in Hamlets refusal to make a decision and Oedipus’ repudiation of himself. Clearly both Oedipus and Hamlet share the common theme of self-destruction and torment of the tragic hero. Hamartia attributes are reconnoitre in “The Detective as Metaphor in the Nineteenth Century," as Elliot Gilbert asserts though their tragic characteristics are indubitable, both Hamlet and Oedipus also demonstrate great strengths that raise them beyond the rest of their kingdom. As heroic royal figures, therefore, they both possess superior qualities of mind and body which set them apart from the common man of their kingdom. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet has shown that he had all the qualities that would have made him a remarkable king; "Let four captai