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THE DRAMATURGICAL AND THEATRICAL HERITAGE
conueyaunce I wyll and I can / Saue a stronge thefe and hange a trew man."
Later, Courtly Abusion, disguised as Pleasure, with the help of a crafty yet
polished description of a beautiful mistress** encourages Magnyfycence to
follow his “lust and lykynge,”** which lays the ground for Cloaked Collusion
(Sober Sadness) to gain control of the king’s wealth by expelling Measure from
the royal court.*” Moreover, Redress ultimately summarizes the moral of the
play to the audience as “it be regystryd well in memory / A playne example of
worldly vaynglory / Howe in this worlde there is no sekernesse / But fallyble
flatery enmyxyd with bytternesse.”®®
In the True Chronicle Historie, flattery manifestly becomes the means of
wreaking vengeance. When Skallinger informs Gonorill and Ragan, bitterly
jealous of their virtuous sister, that their father is planning to make his daughters
confess how much they love him in order to force the suitor of his choice on
Cordella, Gonorill immediately realizes how to take advantage of Leir’s secret
plan: “our revenge we will inflict on her, / Shall be accounted piety in us: / I
will so flatter with my doting father, / As he was ne’re so flattered in his life.’?
However, what makes the love contest scene peculiar from a poetical point of
view is how differently Leir and Cordella react to the elder sisters’ adulation.
Listening to Gonorill’s words, Leir responds, “O, how thy words revive my
dying soule!” while Cordelia says, “O, how I do abhorre this flattery!” Also,
Leir welcomes Ragan’s sugarcoated lines, “Did never Philomel sing so sweet a
note,’ which is in sharp contrast with Cordelia’s comment, “Did never flatterer
tell so false a tale”°! The tension between the parallelism of syntactic elements
expressed by the isocolon and the contrast in the ways in which they are
interpreted anticipates the conflict over understanding Cordella’s confession:
“I cannot paynt my duty forth in words, / I hope my deeds shall make report
for me"? When her sisters and Leir accuse her of pride, Cordella asks them
not to misunderstand her plain words, since her tongue “was never usde to
flattery’? When Gonorill’s and Ragan’s deceitful conduct becomes obvious,
Skalliger recognizes the mistake the king made and at the same time tries to
excuse himself for his role in the scheme against Leir by confronting Gonorill:
“Go, viperous woman, shame to all thy sexe: / The heavens, no doubt, will punish
thee for this: / And mea villayne, that to curry favour, / Have given the daughter
84 Tbid., lines 1379-1381.
85 Ibid., lines 1569-1583.
86 Tbid., line 1632.
87 Tbid., lines 1658-1755.
88 Tbid., lines 2552— 2555.
Anonymous: The True Chronicle, A4r.
99 Tbid., sig. Blr.
% Ibid., sig. Blv.
% Ibid., sig. Blv.
93 Ibid., sig. B2r.
+ 29 +