The Shakespeare Book

264

T

imon is perhaps

Shakespeare’s most extreme

characterization. He swings

from being a lover of humankind to

hating all of humanity. Timon’s

companion, the satirist Apemantus,

finds it remarkably straightforward

to sum up the Athenian lord’s

experience of life: “The middle

of humanity thou never knewest,

but the extremity of both ends”

(4.3.302–303). Apemantus witnesses

Timon’s transformation from

philanthropist to misanthropist, and

provides a satirical commentary on

the transition. At first, Apemantus

watches as Timon showers the

visitors to his home with lavish gifts

and banquets, but then sees him

hurling stones and gold at the

people he had once held so dear.

In choosing to dramatize a life

story that had previously been

alluded to in the works of Plato,

Aristophanes, Lucian, and Plutarch,

Shakespeare created a play that

focused upon man’s relationship

with “Yellow, glittering, precious

gold” (4.3.26). As a generous gift-

giver, Timon is never short of

“friends” – “Methinks I could deal

kingdoms to my friends, / And ne’er

TIMON OF ATHENS

be weary” (1.2.220–221). But once

Timon’s debts are revealed, none of

his friends is prepared to show him

the same generosity of spirit.

Blindness and vanity

Timon’s story is not simply a tale of

riches to rags. It is true to say that

the play’s structure is schematic,

dividing into two contrasting parts,

but Shakespeare’s presentation of

Timon himself is far from simplistic.

The faithful steward Flavius reveals

early in the play that Timon’s coffers

are already empty, and that he

“owes” (1.2.198) for every word he

speaks. Timon’s extreme generosity

IN CONTEXT

THEMES

Love, pride, wealth, vanity,

hate, revenge, misanthropy

SETTING

Athens and woods outside

the city

SOURCES

c.100 CE Plutarch’s Lives of the

Noble Grecians and Romans.

1566 William Painter’s Palace

of Pleasure.

1602 An anonymous play

called Timon.

LEGACY

1678 English poet Thomas

Shadwell creates an adaptation

of Shakespeare’s play titled

The History of Timon of

Athens, the Manhater.

1844 Karl Marx quotes the

play in Political Economy and

Philosophy. He is drawn to

Shakespeare’s description of

gold as a “yellow slave.”

1963 Duke Ellington composes

a jazz score for Michael

Langham’s production at

Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

1973 Peter Brook stages the

play in French at the Bouffes

du Nord Theatre in Paris.

1991 In a modern-dress

production at the Young Vic,

London, David Suchet’s

Timon hands out car keys

to his guests as gifts.

2004 Oxford University Press

publishes an edition of the play

recognizing Shakespeare’s

collaboration with Thomas

Middleton on this work.

Th’unkindest beast more

kinder than mankind.

Timon

Act 4, Scene 1

Timon’s transformation from philanthropist

into misanthropist marks the turning point in

the play. Feast becomes famine as food and

wine are turned into into stones and water.

Philanthropy Misanthropy