The Basics:
Taylor Swift briefly recounts the shocking events of the past summer: Her boyfriend was stolen by another woman! Swift then spends the rest of the song taunting the other woman by listing her flaws, repeating “there is nothing I do better than revenge” and asking “do you still feel like you know what you’re doing.”
Literary Device: Litotes and Parable
Taylor Swift begins the chorus by describing the other woman as “not a saint.” Swift uses the literary device of litotes, or ironic understatement, to suggest that the other woman is not a saint, but a man-stealing archfiend.
Swift then goes on to share a succinct parable for the evildoer’s moral edification:
“Soon she’s gonna find
Stealing other people’s toys on the playground
Won’t make you any friends.”
Swift uses the example of children who don’t play nicely to teach this poor sinner a lesson – taking things that belong to others leads to negative consequences.
Analysis:
The first line of Western Literature begins, “Sing, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles.” Achilles is enraged because Agamemnon has stolen his prize – a hot slave girl named Briseis. Briseis herself is incidental to Achilles. He cannot, however, forgive the theft of what she represents: his honor. Better Than Revenge is Swift’s Iliad: Swift is Achilles and her honor has been challenged by a modern-day Agamemnon.
Returning to Swift’s parable, it provides the first clue that her stolen boyfriend is merely a status symbol. While Swift equated the two women to children on the playground, her stolen boyfriend is portrayed as merely a toy. He is reduced to a thing that has no agency and is merely exchanged between women, in this case through theft. Elsewhere in the song, Swift compares her boyfriend to a mindless moth flying towards a fire: “He was a moth to the flame / She was holding the matches.” Here, as in the playground parable, Swift depicted the other woman with agency – she chose to light the match and skillfully stole Swift’s man. The boyfriend, on the other hand, is merely a moth-brained bro driven by his base instincts.
Throughout Better Than Revenge, the man does not have intrinsic worth – we learn literally nothing about him. Rather, he provides value as a status symbol exchanged between women. When the song begins, Swift “had it all [she] had him right there where I wanted him.” Swift is on top of the world, indicated by the fact that she possessed the man. The other woman comes along and “took him faster than you could say sabotage.” Before the woman’s act of theft, Swift “underestimated just who I was dealing with.” Now that the other woman possesses the man, however, Swift must grudgingly recalculate the other woman’s worth.
Indeed, the song is only incidentally about the man-stealing incident. Swift pokes fun at the other woman’s career: “She’s not what you think / She’s an actress, whoa” and the other woman pokes fun at hers: “She thinks I’m a psycho / ‘Cause I like to rhyme her name with things.” Swift indicates that the other woman is acutely aware of her social status as well as how she compares to Swift: “She looks at life like it’s a party and she’s on the list / She looks at me like I’m a trend and she’s so over it.” On the other hand, Swift makes plenty of judgements that bolster her own status: “Sophistication isn’t what you wear or who you know.” Swift even portrays herself as this woman’s teacher, putting herself in a position of moral authority: “Oh they didn’t teach you that in prep school / So it’s up to me / But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity.”
Better Than Revenge is Swift’s Iliad – a feminine recasting of the timeless tale of besmirched honor. Like Achilles, Swift does not care about the man himself, just what he represents. He is currency in a market where two women are sizing each other up. A modern day Achilles and Agamemnon, Swift and this woman are simultaneously recognizing and challenging each other’s sexual, professional, and social prowess.
Another great analysis, thank you, keep it up