Coming soon: This free short course covers something that Shakespeare refers to throughout every play: the Wheel of Fortune that is turned by a blind lady who stands on a rolling stone. Sometimes you are at the top of the wheel and sometimes you are at the bottom, but that doesn't stop anyone from trying to outwit the Lady. The Wheel of Fortune was one of the most popular secular icons since the early middle ages.

You will learn to recognize when the Wheel of Fortune is referred to, even obliquely, in the plays and what it means to the characters. We'll also talk about the fascinating ways in which Shakespeare personifies Time and how the two, the Wheel of Fortune and Time, are related.

O Time! Thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me to untie!

     Viola in Twelfth Night