gift: a talent, endowment, inclination, or aptitude I looked up the word "gifts" online at The Open Source Shakespeare site. I found many uses of the word throughout the Bard, but one in particular caught my eye. In Hamlet, The Ghost of Hamlet's father speaks of gifts which are treacherous, evil and wicked. It was a reminder to me that not all gifts (i.e., using the definition sited above) are beneficial and helpful to the world. In this passage, The Ghost refers to his brother who killed him and taken his wife for his own; and to Gertrude, his wife, who was complicit in these deeds.
[I've italicized any words for which I provide a definition below.]
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
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!
adulterate: adulterous
traitorous: treacherous
dignity: excellence, worth, honor
with: exactly in accord/parallel with
decline: sink, descend
traitorous: treacherous
dignity: excellence, worth, honor
with: exactly in accord/parallel with
decline: sink, descend
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