The Wheel of Fire

The Wheel of Fire  – Knight advocated for viewing a play as an “expanded time-experience” (spatial) rather than just a sequence of events (temporal plot analysis). This allows the critic to find a unified “design” or “pattern” within the work. He explored recurring themes across the tragedies, such as the “hate theme” related to a failing of love’s reality, death-consciousness, and the contrast between the natural world and the supernatural or metaphysical realms.