Lady Fortune
1. Lady Fortune is often depicted with a wheel
 This pertains to the fickleness of fortune
 Traditionally, at the top of the wheel appears the king and at the
bottom of the wheel are beggars
 Since a wheel is circular, those at the top of the wheel will
eventually fall (or experience misfortune) while those at the
bottom of the wheel will rise (or experience favourable fortune)
2. Fortune is usually depicted in illustrations as a female since women
were often associated with the moon and changeability. Also, in
literature, Fortune as be compared to a scorpion who flatters people
and at the last time stings them with their stinger
3. Prior to the Middle Ages, Fortune was only responsible for good
fortune
4. In medieval words, the tragedy of those who fell was often less the
result of any failing in their lives or actions than the result of the
capriciousness of Fortune
5. But by the Renaissance, the moral effectiveness of pointing out the
dire result of vice and sin meant that the protagonists were more
often shown to be responsible for their falls
Fortune and The Great Chain of Beings
God: - pure intelligence
Angels – have pure intelligence
Nobles – blessed with higher intelligence
Commoners – capable of intelligence
Beasts – capable of intelligence
Plants /matter – not capable of intelligence
 Note that at the bottom of the Great Chain of Beings is matter
 When Lady Fortune takes away all one’s material possession
(matter) this actually helps maintain the great chain of beings since
it allows one to view what truly is valuable in life and ultimately
leads one closer to God
 However, when one does not appreciate these misfortunes and
yearns for matter (money, land etc) they move farther from God
and disrupts the Great Chain of Being
 Giving way to one’s base desires (greed, envy, lust etc) actually
lowers one’s position in the chain of being, as they inevitable are
acting as animals
 The disruption of this great chain of beings (people acting like
animals, placing unjustifiable importance on matter etc) will likely
result in disorder within the universe at large