Faber skilfully illuminates Prince Hal's increasing hostility to Falstaff. However, he attributes this to Hal's guilt over having adopted Falstaff as a substitute father at the expense of the real father, a proposition for which there is no evidence. A better case may be made for the idea that Falstaff is a part-object representing Hal's preoedipal relationship with his father, and is characterized by loving condescension, hedonism, oral receptivity, and narcissistic self-adoration. It is understandable that Hal, about to become king, would wish to purge himself of such instinctual tendencies.