g and ambiguous. Hamlet embodies two incompatible moral systems, one Christian, the other pagan. If Hamlet accepts the Ghost's command, takes the law into his own hands and commits regicide, not just murder, by slaying Claudius as an act of vengeance, he is defying one of the great fundamental Christian teachings: that vengeance is an evil thing. His Christian alternative is to refrain from acting against Claudius and to live in patience, leaving vengeance to God. To pursue Claudius will involve the spilling of blood, some of it more or less innocent, and Hamlet's incorporation in the evil he officially opposes. This process begins when he rashly slays Polonius in mistake for Claudius; this is the turning-point in his moral career.
             The extraordinary moral confusion at the heart of the play, the grave moral
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