The emotion within him becomes so strong that he believes she must feel it too. Unfortunately, after asking her what she was thinking, he receives an unexpected answer, which makes it clear that she doesn't feel the same way. Gabriel then learns of her former lover whose love for her went beyond lust, he was ready to die for her. Gabriel realizes that while he was full of memories of their secret life together, full of joy and desire, she was comparing him in her mind to someone else. It is at this moment that he has his revelation; He realizes that he is living without life. It is a body without feeling or love; he's undead. Later, as she sleeps, Gabriel reflects on what he finally understood. His wife had a moment of passion, but he is now pained to think how insignificant he, her husband, had been in her life. He realizes now that he has never truly loved a woman the way Gretta had been loved. The last time we see Gabriel is as he sits and watches the snow fall over the land, all of Ireland being covered in it. He became aware of his death, like everyone around him. Realizing that those who died within themselves are the same as those in the cemetery and that snow falls on all