Fortune in Two Late Medieval French Morality Plays

There are numerous references to the goddess Fortuna in the literature of the western world. This deity provided answers to complicated questions confronting mankind in ancient Greece and Rome. She remained a dominant character in the literature and the art of the Middle Ages and her power was equally manifested on the stage in two late medieval French morality plays, Bien Advise et Mal Advise and L'Homme Juste et l'Homme Mondain. The medieval tradition of Fortune is rooted in the works of Boethius and Alain de Lille. Both authors depict the goddess of chance in dualistic terms, wavering from hapiness to sadness as she pushes all people from wealth to poverty on her wheel of chance. It was this image of the goddess of chance that was portrayed in art in Europe during the Middle Ages. A discussion of the goddess of chance as represented in Bien Advise et Mal Advise illustrates how the author of this morality play remained faithful to the tradition of the goddess Fortuna as established by Boethius and Alain de Lille. L'Homme Juste et l'Homme Mondain, however, shows a definite evolution in the portrayal of Fortune and her famous wheel. Several theories of staging, as well as the texts themselves, assist in describing how the goddess of chance and the rota fortunae might have been staged in these morality plays.