The Imagery of a Cuckoo
Baba’s second Son asserts, “Had it not like the hateful cuckoo been,/ Whose riper age his infant nurse doth kill:/ So long we had not kept ourselves unseen,/ But Constabarus safely crossed our will: /For had the tyrant fixed his cruel eye On our concealed faces, wrath had swayed /His justice so, that he had forced us die. /And dearer price than life we should have paid,/ For you, our truest friend, had fallen with us:” (Act 2, Scene 2 lines131-139). The cuckoo is emblematic of ingratitude. Babas’ sons do not emulate the Cuckoos for they do not adversely expose Constabarus. Had the sons been unappreciative, they would have endangered his life by confirming to Herod that they are alive. Their discretion is contributory to the durability of their friendship.
The Imagery of Antipater’s plot
Antipater plots, “Each mouth within the city loudly cries/ That Herod’s death is certain: therefore we /Had best some subtle hidden plot devise,/ That Mariam’s children might subverted be,/ By poison’s drink, or else by murderous knife,/ So we may be advanced, it skills not how: matters / They are but bastards, you were Herod’s wife” (Act 2, Scene 3, lines, 271-276). Antipater is as brutal as his father for he anticipates to use deadly means such as ‘poison or murder’ to upsurge his chance of acceding to the throne. He considers Mariam and her children to be impediments to his quest to be the king. His intents to subvert Mariam authorize that he is covetous of their current standing as the prospective heirs.
