Fortnight

Fortnight is the two-week period Elizabeth says remains before her father’s chosen marriage to Fitzwilliam Herman. In the scene, it gives her distress a precise deadline and turns her appeal to Samson into an urgent request for intervention.

Meaning and Context

Elizabeth tells Samson that she is to be married in a fortnight. Her father announced the arrangement that day and selected Fitzwilliam Herman, whom she describes as old, ugly, and unpleasant to her. The interval is therefore not an abstract measure of time: it marks the short period before a marriage she says she cannot accept.

Narrative Function

The stated deadline concentrates the scene’s conflict into an approaching event. Crying, Elizabeth asks Samson to help her; he draws her into his arms and asks whether she trusts him. The fortnight establishes the urgency of that exchange, while leaving the eventual outcome unstated in this scene.