Bouncing off the idea that the ends don't justify the means, it's a tad absolutist to claim that the ends never justify the means, and then to denigrate a character,based on that absolute, is excessive. Retroactively applying a modern Judeo-Christian view of morality to Elizabethan theater characters is troublesome. Not only is it logically troublesome,but it also problematic as a literary interpretation. It is reading oneself, or one's proclivities/biases, into the work. Not to mention the view oversimplifies centuries of religious debate and doctrine to a simple forgiveness of sins/martyrdom, which is odd considering that would be limiting a centuries old religion to a relatively new aspect of it(New Testament). Also, the problem of forgiveness,sin,
