O Hamlet, what a falling off was there, / From me, whose love was of that dignity / That it went hand in hand even with the vow / I made to her in marriage; and to decline / Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor / To those of mine.
Act I, Scene 5
Context
The Ghost laments that Gertrude abandoned him for Claudius, a man far inferior in 'natural gifts' and dignity of love.
Analysis
The metaphor of 'falling off' turns Gertrude's remarriage into a spatial descent, as if virtue had altitude and she has plummeted from a peak down to a low swamp. The Ghost's comparison—'whose natural gifts were poor / To those of mine'—is self-regarding in a way that complicates his moral authority; he is less concerned with Gertrude's sin than with his own wounded pride. This makes the audience wonder whether the Ghost's command for revenge is about justice or jealousy.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that the Ghost is an unreliable moral guide—his outrage centers on his own superiority rather than Gertrude's betrayal of marriage vows, revealing that the revenge plot is tangled up with male ego and sexual possessiveness, not just righteous justice.