Fortnight Title Analysis
Definition: a period of 14 days, two weeks
In astronomy, a lunar fortnight is half a synodic month, which is equal to the period between a full moon and a new moon
Similar Lyrics:
"We met a few weeks ago, now you try on calling me ‘baby’ like trying on clothes" - King of My Heart
"One night, a few moons ago, I saw flecks of what could have been lights" - Snow on The Beach (ft. Lana Del Rey)
"I counted days, I counted miles, to see you there" - Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince
Shakespeare mentioned the word fortnight a handful of times throughout multiple works. These works include:
Coriolanus
Henry IV Part 1
Henry IV Part 2
King Edward III
King Lear
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Richard III
Romeo and Juliet
Here are the plays (and excerpts) I feel like are the most important when discussing Taylor and THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT.
Coriolanus:
Synopsis: "As Coriolanus begins, two Roman patricians, Menenius and Martius, calm a revolt by the city’s famished plebians. Martius, who despises the plebians, announces that their petition to be represented by tribunes has been granted. When Volscian invaders attack Roman territories, Martius helps lead the Roman forces, and almost single-handedly conquers the Volscian city of Corioles, winning the name “Coriolanus.” The Volscian leader, Aufidius, swears revenge.
Victorious in battle, Coriolanus expects to be made a consul, but by custom he must ask for votes from the plebians. He does this so contemptuously that he is rejected as a consul. The tribunes later charge Coriolanus with treason and banish him from Rome. He seeks his former enemy, Aufidius.
Coriolanus and Aufidius join forces to conquer Rome. On the brink of success, Coriolanus is persuaded by his mother, Volumnia, to spare the city, though he knows it may cost him his life. Aufidius and his fellow conspirators plot Coriolanus’s death. Coriolanus returns to Corioles, where he is assassinated. Rome honors Volumnia for saving the city."
Our business is not unknown to th’ Senate. They have had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do, which now we’ll show ’em in deeds. They say poor suitors have strong breaths; they shall know we have strong arms too.
With each of the plays I have looked over and chosen to speak more about in this post they each give off the energy of the five stages of grief - a TTPD theory that Taylor herself has acknowledged and made Apple Music playlists for. Coriolanus is very reminiscent of the second stage, anger. The aggression, the need for revenge and control is something Taylor has discussed in her writing before and probably will discuss again on this new album. This topic was most discussed on reputation, which also happens to be the first album to have Joe Alwyn as a muse. Also, Coriolanus being persuaded by his mother is similar to Now That We Don't Talk with Taylor discussing the topic with her mother, "I called my mom, she said that it was for the best / I called my mom, she said to get it off my chest." The excerpt that is shown can be put into the context of Taylor and Joe's PR teams having a subtle yet public discussion. It's believed that Joe's team tells The Daily Mail information, while Taylor's tells Entertainment Tonight. This can be seen in respective articles on April 11, 2023 when the break up was all over. When TTPD was announced, a source from Joe said, "If it is a diss album, that is shady. He helped her with song writing on her past album so it will really come as a shock to him if she talks about their breakup, as it is something he has not spoken of at all." Then the response was basically: Taylor writes about her life and will write about the good and bad in every relationship. This is not new and should've been expected. What I'm trying to portray is that Joe already knows what Taylor's up to when it comes to her songwriting - especially on TTPD. Taylor intends to reveal everything in her own way - like she has done multiple times with other exes (Harry Styles being a notable one).
Henry IV Part 1:
Synopsis: "Henry IV, Part 1, culminates in the battle of Shrewsbury between the king’s army and rebels seeking his crown. The dispute begins when Hotspur, the son of Northumberland, breaks with the king over the fate of his brother-in-law, Mortimer, a Welsh prisoner. Hotspur, Northumberland, and Hotspur’s uncle Worcester plan to take the throne, later allying with Mortimer and a Welsh leader, Glendower.
As that conflict develops, Prince Hal—Henry IV’s son and heir—carouses in a tavern and plots to trick the roguish Sir John Falstaff and his henchmen, who are planning a highway robbery. Hal and a companion will rob them of their loot—then wait for Falstaff’s lying boasts. The trick succeeds, but Prince Hal is summoned to war.
In the war, Hal saves his father’s life and then kills Hotspur, actions that help to redeem his bad reputation. Falstaff, meanwhile, cheats his soldiers, whom he leads to slaughter, and takes credit for Hotspur’s death."
O my good lord, why are you thus alone?
For what offense have I this fortnight been
A banished woman from my Harry’s bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is ’t that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth
And start so often when thou sit’st alone?
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy?
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watched, And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars,
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed,
Cry “Courage! To the field!” And thou hast talked
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,
Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets, Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,
Of prisoners’ ransom, and of soldiers slain,
And all the currents of a heady fight.
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,
And thus hath so bestirred thee in thy sleep,
That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow
Like bubbles in a late-disturbèd stream,
And in thy face strange motions have appeared,
Such as we see when men restrain their breath
On some great sudden hest. O, what portents are
these?
Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,
And I must know it, else he loves me not.
The play itself is similar to the first and third stages of grief, denial and bargaining. The excerpt shows bargaining as well. She is begging to know more, to know everything that is causing him turmoil - begging for the footnotes in the story of your life-esque. There are many areas of this section where I can point to folklore, Lover, and Midnights (I will discuss it more in detail in another post).
A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Synopsis: "In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, residents of Athens mix with fairies from a local forest, with comic results. In the city, Theseus, Duke of Athens, is to marry Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. Bottom the weaver and his friends rehearse in the woods a play they hope to stage for the wedding celebrations.
Four young Athenians are in a romantic tangle. Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia; she loves Lysander and her friend Helena loves Demetrius. Hermia’s father, Egeus, commands Hermia to marry Demetrius, and Theseus supports the father’s right. All four young Athenians end up in the woods, where Robin Goodfellow, who serves the fairy king Oberon, puts flower juice on the eyes of Lysander, and then Demetrius, unintentionally causing both to love Helena. Oberon, who is quarreling with his wife, Titania, uses the flower juice on her eyes. She falls in love with Bottom, who now, thanks to Robin Goodfellow, wears an ass’s head.
As the lovers sleep, Robin Goodfellow restores Lysander’s love for Hermia, so that now each young woman is matched with the man she loves. Oberon disenchants Titania and removes Bottom’s ass’s head. The two young couples join the royal couple in getting married, and Bottom rejoins his friends to perform the play."
No epilogue, I pray you. For your play needs
no excuse. Never excuse. For when the players are
all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if
he that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged
himself in Thisbe’s garter, it would have been a fine
tragedy; and so it is, truly, and very notably discharged.
But, come, your Bergomask. Let your
epilogue alone.
⌜Dance, and the players exit.⌝
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.
Lovers, to bed! ’Tis almost fairy time.
I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn
As much as we this night have overwatched. This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled
The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
A fortnight hold we this solemnity
In nightly revels and new jollity.
The excerpt here, once again, has many points where connections to Taylor's previous work can be easily made. But, also, it shows the final and fifth stage of grief, acceptance.
The Merchant of Venice - In 2019, for Lover promotion, Taylor came out with a playlist called The Playlist of ME! on Apple Music. It featured ME! and eventually You Need To Calm Down when it came out (because this playlist came out originally on May 23, 2019), but also many songs from other artists. One of the songs was Venice Bitch by Lana Del Rey.
Jane Austen has mentioned a “senight” in her letters- which is a week compared to the 2 week “fortnight”
"We have also heard from Godmersham, & the day of your Uncle & Fanny’s coming is fixed; they leave home tomorrow senight, spend two days in Town & are to be with us on Thursday May 2nd - We are to see your Cousin Edward likewise, but probably not quite so soon."
(I would like to mention that May 2nd is a Thursday this year as well and the 3rd is a fortnight from April 19th)
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#58 Road House (2024)
Elwood Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) es un antiguo luchador profesional de UFC que salió del mundillo porque mató a golpes a un contrincante en el ring. Para poder subsistir hace peleas callejeras y se practica curas a sí mismo para poder seguir en la línea. Determinado día, al salir de una pelea clandestina conoce a Frankie (Jessica Williams) que tiene un bar que es asaltado día sí y día también y necesita a alguien que se encargue de la seguridad de su local. Pese a que Dalton le dice que no, está tan al borde de su vida que planea dejarse arrollar por un tren, pero en el último momento se arrepiente y decide aceptar el trabajo que le ofrecen.
Dalton encaja perfectamente en el pequeño pueblo, sobre todo después de dar una primera lección al grupo de moteros que no hacen más que molestar en el bar. Se hace amigo de todos y se enamora de Ellie (Daniela Melchior), todo parece ir viento en popa.
Pero cuanto más ayuda a Frankie con su negocio, más se mete en líos con los moteros y, aún más, con su jefe que quiere destruir el local para construir un complejo de apartamentos y ganar dinero.
Como no pueden con él ni con el apoyo que recibe en el pueblo, llaman a Knoxx (Conor McGregor) un luchador loco que no tiene moral, ni respeto y que le encanta liarse a palos en cuanto tiene la oportunidad.
Evidentemente, Knoxx y Dalton llegan a las manos, no una, ni dos, sino hasta tres veces, y cada vez que ocurre, Dalton sale hecho polvo (igual que Knoxx) pero le cuesta recuperarse de la actitud criminal de Knox. Hasta que este le recuerda porque salió de la liga UFC por matar a un contrincante que resultaba ser su amigo. Y Dalton confiesa que "cuando me llevan al límite, no puedo evitar lo que viene después", la gente de Knoxx secuestra a Ellie, y Dalton decide que ya tiene suficiente, esto tiene que acabar ya.
Dalton le roba el dinero a los malos y se lo da a los buenos, salva a Ellie, le quita a Frankie a todos los malos de encima para que pueda llevar su negocio, y decide volver a casa. Ya ha hecho lo que debía hacer y es hora de volver. Antes de irse le recuerdan que es posible que no sea un héroe, pero tampoco es un villano.
"El guion es horrible y no vale para nada, pero toda la dinámica de las luchas, el toque cómico de una película de acción tan intensa, y el carisma de Jake y Conor es muy divertido. Es cierto que Conor no tiene aptitudes de actor, pero es algo que puede llegar a conseguir, en cambio, su presencia como luchador contra Jake se disfruta fácilmente."
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