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bellaswan-kinnie · 9 hours

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TTPD songs as characters from Greek mythology

I was inspired by the song Cassandra to find connections between other songs from TTPD and figures from Greek myth because it's not a Taylor Swift album cycle if I don't dedicate time to assigning each song to a fictional character!

I didn't do all of the songs because there's so fucking many so these are just the ones that first popped into my head... but there could possibly be a part two...

*TW: mentions of sexual assault and suicide

Fortnight // Clytemnestra

My husband is cheating I want to kill him

Of course I had to pick Clytemnestra for a song that references mariticide. Clytemnestra was the wife of King Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces during the Trojan War. Before setting sail, Agamemnon unknowingly killed a sacred deer of Artemis, and the goddess refused to let the winds blow any ships to Troy until he sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia. He told his wife and daughter that she was going to marry the great warrior Achilles, but instead, he sacrificed Iphigenia at the altar.

Clytemnestra spent the next ten years waiting for her husband to return from Troy. She began an affair with his cousin, Aegisthus, and together they plotted against him. When Agamemnon finally came home with the Trojan princess Cassandra as his war prize (yet another insult to his wife), Clytemnestra murdered both of them.

The Tortured Poets Department // Eurydice

You left your typewriter at my apartment Straight from the Tortured Poets Department Who else decodes you?

I chose Eurydice for this song only because I think she would relate to the shenanigans of dating a melodramatic musician. Eurydice was the wife of Orpheus, the most renowned poet and musician in Greek mythology. Most famously, when Eurydice died prematurely of a snake bite, Orpheus traveled to the Underworld and convinced Hades to release her. The god did so under the condition that Orpheus did not look back at Eurydice until they had reached the surface, but tragically, he failed. Orpheus was later ripped apart by the Maenads (female followers of Dionysus) in their anger at his unrelenting mourning.

My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys // Hera

I'm queen of sandcastles he destroys

Hera, queen of the Olympians and sister-wife of Zeus, was the supreme authority on being delusional in a relationship. Zeus was notoriously unfaithful to Hera (the goddess of marriage?!!?), fathering a comical number of bastard children. Hera was in turn notorious for taking out her anger on the women involved in these affairs, regardless of their willingness to participate in them, and the children they bore.

Down Bad // Ariadne

How dare you think it's romantic Leaving me safe and stranded Cause fuck it, I was in love

I actually started writing this post because I was listening to Down Bad the other day and it suddenly hit me that this song is soooo Ariadne.

Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphaë of Crete. She aided the Athenian hero Theseus when he came to Crete to slay the Minotaur. The creature was contained in an elaborate labyrinth, so Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of thread to help him navigate the maze. After he killed the Minotaur, Ariadne ran away with Theseus, having betrayed her family and her home.

The pair stopped at the island of Naxos, where Theseus abandoned her while she slept. She awoke and watched his ship sail away in despair (literally "waving at the ship"), but soon the god Dionysus descended from heaven and made her his immortal wife.

But Daddy I Love Him // Helen

I'm telling him to floor it through the fences No, I'm not coming to my senses I know he's crazy but he's the one I want

Talk about a love affair causing a big ol' ruckus! Helen was the queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus (Agamemnon's brother). When Paris, a prince of Troy, traveled to Sparta, the two fell in love and she ran away with him back to Troy (there are versions of the story where she's abducted, but I'm not referring to those here). This set off what we know as the Trojan War, the legendary conflict between the alliance of Greeks and the people of Troy. Paris was ultimately killed and Menelaus took Helen back to Sparta. Obviously the happy ending for the couple in "But Daddy I Love Him" is not what awaited Helen and Paris, but the sentiment is there!

Helen also faced a great deal of judgement from both the Greeks and the Trojans. She was blamed for causing all of that death and destruction despite the Greeks' preexisting desires to invade Troy for economic reasons. She was later dubbed "the face that launched a thousand ships" by 16th century playwright Christopher Marlowe. The scrutiny Helen has faced is akin to the kind Taylor wrote about in this song, especially considering how both women were unfairly blamed for the actions of others.

Guilty as Sin? // Phaedra

I'm seeing visions, am I bad? Or mad? Or wise? What if he's written 'mine' on my upper thigh Only in my mind?

This one's gonna be a little uncomfy but just hear me out!! Phaedra was the wife of Theseus, the slayer of the Minotaur who earlier I mentioned had abandoned Ariadne. Phaedra and Ariadne were actually sisters, and Phaedra was married to Theseus later in his life. He already had a son named Hippolytus, who had taken a vow of chastity as a devotee to Artemis. In Euripides' tragic play, Hippolytus, Aphrodite was insulted by this, so she made his stepmother Phaedra fall in love with him.

Phaedra was so deeply ashamed of her feelings for Hippolytus that she became suicidal. Her nurse tried to help her by telling Hippolytus about it in the hopes that he would reciprocate, but he was disgusted. Phaedra then hung herself and tried to hide her reasons by accusing her stepson of rape in a note. When Theseus read it, he called upon Poseidon to kill Hippolytus.

... So if there was one character I could say experienced a similar degree of shame-filled yearning as Taylor described in this song... Phaedra would be her.

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? // Medusa

Cause you lured me, and you hurt me, and you taught me You caged me, and then you called me crazy I am what I am cause you trained me

The most iconic female monster in Western culture, Medusa embodies the spirit of this song. "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" conjures up images of a terrifying, crazed female figure who lives in her lair and haunts the local population, similar to the infamy of Medusa and her Gorgon sisters during the mythical Age of Heroes. The Gorgons of Greek antiquity were described as hideous monsters with large tusks, golden wings, and snakes for hair, so terrifying that the sight of them turned the onlooker to stone. The demigod Perseus was sent to retrieve Medusa's head by King Polydectes as a ploy to get rid of him so he could marry Perseus' mother. With the help of Athena and Hermes, Perseus snuck up on Medusa while she was sleeping and decapitated her. He continued to use her severed head as a weapon to turn his enemies to stone, including King Polydectes.

The Roman poet Ovid included an alternate version of Medusa's origin in his narrative poem Metamorphoses. In it, Medusa was a beautiful maiden, most renowned for her luscious hair. Neptune/Poseidon violated her in Minerva/Athena's temple, and the goddess punished Medusa for this offense by transforming her hair into snakes. This characterization of Medusa as a victim of the gods' cruelty has become the predominant one in in our culture, and the idea of an innocent woman being turned into a monster by the powers that be is very resonant with "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?"

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived // Medea

Cause it wasn't sexy once it wasn't forbidden I would've died for your sins instead I just died inside And you deserve prison but you won't get time

There's so many songs on TTPD that are extremely Medea coded but if I had to choose just one it's definitely this (So Long, London is a CLOSE second. I mean... woman who sacrifices everything just to live in a foreign land with a man who doesn't love her... but I digress).

Like Ariadne, Medea betrayed her father, King Aeëtes of Colchis, to help the hero Jason steal the Golden Fleece and then ran away with him. Medea was a powerful witch who used her magic and guile to defeat many of Jason's enemies for him. Euripides' tragedy Medea told the story of the downfall of their marriage ten years later. The couple was living in exile in the city of Corinth with their two sons, but one day Medea discovered that Jason had left and married the local king's daughter. If that doesn't sound like the smallest man who ever lived I don't know what does!

In her rage, Medea decided to murder Jason's new bride and her own children instead of processing her feelings by writing songs about them.

The Albatross // Pandora

Wise men once said "One bad seed kills the garden" "One less temptress, One less dagger to sharpen"

"The Albatross" references our society's history of demonizing women as harbingers of destruction. Just as Judeo-Christian mythology blamed the origin of sin on the first woman, Eve, the Ancient Greeks credited Pandora as the curser of humanity. Like Eve, Pandora was the first human woman, formed from earth. However, Pandora (and therefore the entire race of women) was intentionally designed as a punishment for men after Prometheus gave them stolen fire from heaven. The gods made her irresistibly beautiful and gave her a jar which contained all the evils and hardships of the world, which she then unleashed by opening it. Only Hope remained trapped inside.

I Hate It Here // Circe

Lucid dreams like electricity The current flies through me And in my fantasies I rise above it And way up there, I actually love it

THE introvert of Greek mythology was Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse. She's best known for her appearance in The Odyssey as the witch who turned Odysseus' men into pigs when they landed on her island Aeaea. "I Hate It Here" reminded me of Madeline Miller's version of the character, who was forced to live in exile but found comfort in her solitude through her magical craft.

The Prophecy // Achilles

Who do I have to speak to About if they can redo The prophecy?

Known as "the best of the Greeks," Achilles was a central figure in Homer's The Iliad, the epic poem set during the tenth and final year of the Trojan War. The poem depicts Achilles' wrath, most notably, following the death of his beloved companion, Patroclus.

Prior to the war, Achilles' mother, the Nereid Thetis, prophesied that he would either achieve glory and die young or live a long, unremarkable life. When the Greeks started gathering their forces to invade Troy, Achilles attempted to hide and avoid the war, but Odysseus sought him out because he was also prophesied to be the only way the Greeks could win against the Trojans. Achilles ultimately fulfilled both prophecies, defeating the Trojans' best warrior, Prince Hector, and then dying in battle.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus travelled to the Underworld and spoke to Achilles, telling him how highly-regarded he was among the Greeks and the dead. Achilles expressed his regret over choosing the short and glorious life, saying,

I would prefer to be a workman, hired by a poor man on a peasant farm, than rule as king of all the dead.

Peter // Penelope

But I let the lamp burn As the men masqueraded I hoped you'd return

Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, king of Ithaca and a key figure in the Trojan War. She spent 20 years waiting for her husband to return from Troy, and during that time her household was plagued by suitors (the men masquerading!!) who tried to pressure her into remarrying. Penelope remained faithful to her husband and came up with a clever trick to stall the suitors until Odysseus returned. She told them that she would choose her new husband after she finished weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, but every night, she would undo most of the day's work.

Unlike Peter in the song, Odysseus did return to Penelope, but she didn't accept him until he proved his worth and his identity.

The Bolter // Daphne

Then he'll call her a 'whore' Wish he wouldn't be sore But as she was leaving It felt like breathing

The nymph Daphne was the daughter of the river god Peneus. She was pursued by many but wished to remain a virgin forever like the goddess Diana/Artemis.

The god Apollo boasted to Cupid after slaying the dragon Python, and in retaliation Cupid shot his arrows at Apollo and Daphne, but the one that pierced Daphne inspired repulsion instead of love. Apollo then chased Daphne relentlessly. The nymph eventually tired from running and she begged her father to save her. She then transformed into the first laurel tree, whose leaves represent victory.

Really the only similarity between Daphne and "The Bolter" is the running bit... but I had to!