Timon Of Athens: A Tragedy

By William Shakespeare

Known for his generosity, Timon of Athens’s largesse is frequently exploited by those who seek to benefit from his fortunes. But when Timon’s fortune is exhausted, and he is forced to seek assistance from those who he has helped in the past, he quickly learns who his true friends are.

Known as “The Bard of Avon,” William Shakespeare is arguably the greatest English-language writer known. Enormously popular during his life, Shakespeare’s works continue to resonate more than three centuries after his death, as has his influence on theatre and literature. Shakespeare’s innovative use of character, language, and experimentation with romance as tragedy served as a foundation for later playwrights and dramatists, and some of his most famous lines of dialogue have become part of everyday speech.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Dec 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781443443579

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, in 1564. The date of his birth is not known but is traditionally 23 April, St George's Day. Aged 18, he married a Stratford farmer's daughter, Anne Hathaway. They had three children. Around 1585 William joined an acting troupe on tour in Stratford from London, and thereafter spent much of his life in the capital. A member of the leading theatre group in London, the Chamberlain's Men, which built the Globe Theatre and frequently performed in front of Queen Elizabeth I, Shakespeare wrote 36 plays and much poetry besides. He died in 1616.

Book preview

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

TIMON

of Athens

LUCIUS, LUCULLUS, SEMPRONIUS

flattering lords

VENTIDIUS

one of Timon’s false friends

ALCIBIADES

an Athenian captain

APEMANTUS

a churlish philosopher

FLAVIUS

steward to Timon

FLAMINIUS, LUCILIUS, SERVILIUS

Timon’s servants

CAPHIS, PHILOTUS, TITUS, HORTENSIUS

servants to Timon’s creditors

Three Strangers

An Old Athenian

A Page

A Fool

Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant

PHRYNIA, TIMANDRA

mistresses to Alcibiades

CUPID, AMAZONS

in the Mask

Lords, Senators, Officers, Soldiers, Servants,

Thieves and Attendants.

THE SCENE: ATHENS AND THE NEIGHBOURING WOODS.

ACT ONE

SCENE I. Athens. Timon’s house.

Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant, and Mercer at several doors.

POET Good day, sir.

PAINTER I am glad y’are well.

POET I have not seen you long; how goes the world?

PAINTER It wears, sir, as it grows.

POET Ay, that’s well known.

But what particular rarity? What strange,

[5]

Which manifold record not matches? See,

Magic of bounty, all these spirits thy power

Hath conjur’d to attend! I know the merchant.

PAINTER I know them both; th’ other’s a jeweller.

MERCHANT O, ’tis a worthy lord!

JEWELLER Nay, that’s most fix’d.

[10]

MERCHANT A most incomparable man; breath’d, as it were,

To an untirable and continuate goodness.

He passes.

JEWELLER I have a jewel here —

MERCHANT O, pray let’s see’t. For the Lord Timon, sir?

[15]

JEWELLER If he will touch the estimate. But for that —

POET When we for recompense have prais’d the vile,

It stains the glory in that happy verse

Which aptly sings the good.

[20]

MERCHANT [Looking at the jewel] ’Tis a good form.

JEWELLER And rich. Here is a water, look ye.

PAINTER You are rapt, sir, in some work, some dedication

To the great lord.

POET A thing slipp’d idly from me.

Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes

From whence ’tis nourish’d. The tire i’ th’ flint

[25]

Shows not till it be struck: our gentle flame

Provokes itself, and like the current flies

Each bound it chafes. What have you there?

PAINTER A picture, sir. When comes your book forth?"

POET Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.

Let’s see your piece.

[30]

PAINTER ’Tis a good piece.

POET So ’tis; this comes off well and excellent.

PAINTER Indifferent.

POET Admirable. How this grace

Speaks his own standing! What a mental power

[35]

This eye shoots forth! How big imagination

Moves in this lip! To th’ dumbness of the gesture

One might interpret.

PAINTER It is a pretty mocking of the life.

Here is a touch; is’t good?

[40]

POET I will say of it

It tutors nature. Artificial strife

Lives in these touches, livelier than life.

Enter certain Senators, and pass over.

PAINTER How this lord is followed!

POET The senators of Athens — happy man!

PAINTER Look, moe!

[45]

POET You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.

I have in this rough work shap’d out a man

Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug

With amplest entertainment. My free drift

Halts not particularly, but moves itself

[50]

In a wide sea of tax. No levell’d malice

Infects one comma in the course I hold,

But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on,

Leaving no tract behind.

PAINTER How shall I understand you?

POET I will unbolt to you.

[55]

You see how all conditions, how all minds —

As well of glib and slipp’ry creatures as

Of grave and austere quality, tender down

Their services to Lord Timon. His large fortune,

Upon his good and gracious nature hanging,

[60]

Subdues and properties to his love and tendance

All sorts of hearts; yea, from the glass-fac’d flatterer

To Apemantus, that few things loves better

Than to abhor himself; even he drops down

The knee before him, and returns in peace

Most rich in Timon’s nod.

PAINTER I saw them speak together.

POET Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill

Feign’d Fortune to be thron’d. The base o’ th’ mount

Is rank’d with all deserts, all kind of natures

That labour on the bosom of this sphere

[70]

To propagate their states. Amongst them all

Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fix’d

One do I personate of Lord Timon’s frame,

Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her;

Whose present grace to present slaves and servants

Translates his rivals.

PAINTER ’Tis conceiv’d to scope.

This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,

With one man beckon’d from the rest below,

Bowing his head against the steepy mount

To climb his happiness, would be well express’d

In our condition.

POET Nay, sir, but hear me on.

All those which were his fellows but of late —

Some better than his value — on the moment

Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance,

Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear,

[85]

Make sacred even his stirrup, and through him

Drink the free air.

PAINTER Ay, marry, what of these?

POET When Fortune in her shift and change of mood

Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants,

Which labour’d after him to the mountain’s top

[90]

Even on their knees and hands, let him slip down,

Not one accompanying his declining foot.

PAINTER ’Tis common.

A thousand moral paintings I can show

That shall demonstrate these quick blows of

Fortune’s

[95]

More pregnantly than words. Yet you do well

To show Lord Timon that mean eyes have seen

The foot above the head.

Trumpets sound. Enter TIMON, addressing himself ourteously to every suitor, a Messenger from Ventidius talking with Mm; LUCILIUS and other Servants following.

TIMON Imprison’d is he, say you?

MESSENGER Ay, my good lord. Five talents is his debt;

His means most short, his creditors most strait.

[100]

Your honourable letter he desires

To those have shut him up; which failing,

Periods his comfort.

TIMON Noble Ventidius! Well.

I am not of that feather to shake off

My friend when he must need me. I do know him

[105]

A gentlemen that well deserves a help,

Which he shall have. I’ll pay the debt, and free him.

MESSENGER Your lordship ever binds him.

TIMON Commend me to him; I will send his ransom;

And being enfranchis’d, bid

Reviews for Timon Of Athens

[jhudsui_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this because it was heavily referenced in Pale Fire and I see the thematic link there regarding exile - I guess I should re-read Pale Fire again having read it but I never re-read anything. Anyway, it's actually pretty good. According to wikipedia it's one of the Shakespear plays that don't fit as cleanly in the comedy/tragedy division as the others - conventional wisdom is supposed to be that it's a tragedy, but personally I'd describe it as more of a black comedy. So of course I like it. I love the climax, where in one last grandiose gesture Timon lets Athens know who it can go fuck (itself), and how Apemantus's presence in the story finally builds to and culminates in a lengthy scene where he and the protagonist go at it full-bore line for line for multiple pages. Also, Alcibiades is in it! Although disappointingly he's apparently this stock-character Alcibiades originating in Plato instead of the lovable scampini I remember from Thucydides (seriously, it seems like a totally different guy).

[coach_of_alva · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I could see that I had arrived at the autumn of the Bard's career when I reached his collaborations with hacks.I would like to think that the parts of the play I didn't like were the work of the hack. I assume that he was responsible for the Alcibades scenes reading like some schoolboy was doing an adaptation of Coriolanus as an classroom assignment or the perfunctory setup of Timon's future woes or the dimwitted idea of having the hero die off-stage. By contrast, I credit the Bard with the stinging reproaches ("Uncover, dogs, and lap") and the magnificent rants (and the Bard can rant) and the unmasking of fraud and hypocrisy (take that, poet and painter). A bad play with great moments.P.S. I just realized what it really lacked - no strong women characters!?

[therebelprince · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

3 stars for the play, 5 stars for the incredible, comprehensive academic study of it that runs through this 500-page volume.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wealthy Athenian Timon spreads his wealth generously and hold parties. After giving all his wealth away, he discovers his so-called friends only cared about his wealth. He spends his remaining days in a cave. Shakespeare borrowed from other sources to create this work, and critics attribute portions to other authors. It's not among Shakespeare's best efforts.

[meandmybooks-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Okay, that was just awful. Gives Edward III serious competition in the race to the bottom. It's like someone said to Shakespeare, “Bet you can't make a more unlikeable protagonist than Titus Andronicus,” and Shakespeare said, “Oh yeah? Here, hold my ale!”Timon has the good fortune to be born to wealth and position in Athens, and manages to blow through absolutely all of his money by endlessly playing the “Lord Bountiful,” ignoring the protests of his more sensible steward, glorying in the flattery and sycophantic sucking up of toadies. Where he might be sympathetic as an “excessively compassionate” sort if he gave away all his money to people in real need, Timon's generosity seems to be directed mostly at comfortably well-off friends. He hauls out his jewel chest at parties, ostentatiously handing out gems as party favors, and, remembering that a friend admired the horse he was riding recently, announces “'Tis yours, because you lik'd it.” He's maybe a step away from lighting his cigars with $100 bills. Until the funds are all gone. And, shocker, his buddies no longer care about him. Who, in the noble Timon's estimation, is to blame for his downfall? Himself, perhaps, and his own reckless irresponsibility? His friends, who enjoyed his largesse but don't want to help him when he's in trouble? Nope. ALL MANKIND. That's who's to blame. All the women, maidens, toddlers, infants, slaves, old men, etc. of Athens. ”Spare not the babe, whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust their mercy; think it a bastard, whom the oracle hath doubtfully pronounc'd the throat shall cut, and mince it sans remorse. Swear against objects, put armor on thine ears and on thine eyes, whose proof nor yells of mothers, maids, nor babes, nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding, shall pierce a jot.”There are a few amusing exchanges, and Timon's steward is a lovely, devoted fellow who does his level best, but his master is an idiot and a jerk. This is a relatively short play, but it sure felt like it went on forever.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Timon is a wealthy man who is happy to help his friends whenever they need him. He loans money without a second thought, helping one man marry the woman he loves and another pay off an outstanding debt. Soon the tables turn on Timon and he finds himself out of funds and in need of help. He soon discovers that fickle friends disappear when the coffers runs dry. He ends up exiled in the woods, disillusioned and angry.As is the case with many of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, this one shares themes and plot points with some of his more successful work. There are so many similarities with King Lear, the popular character becoming a friendless outcast, betrayal by those who are meant to be his truest supporters. Both plays also have one supporter who remains loyal to the title character: Cordelia (the daughter) in King Lear and Flavius (the steward) in Timon. Lear makes many of the same basic points in a more powerful way. There were also a few spots that reminded me of Coriolanus, including the banished character aiding an enemy force in attacking his former home. Timon of Athens feels a bit disjointed. The first half is cheerful and optimistic, but once he is deserted by his friends and living in the woods it takes on a much darker tone. Scholars have apparently attributed this to a joint authorship. I have no idea if that’s true, but with the flow of the story it certainly makes sense. BOTTOM LINE: Not one of my favorites, but another insight into Shakespeare’s development as a playwright. I love seeing him hone his skills in different works and seeing the many factors that affect whether that play will fail or succeed. I would love to see this one performed live. “The moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.”“Lips, let sour words go by and language end:What is amiss plague and infection mend!Graves only be men's works and death their gain!Sun, hide thy beams! Timon hath done his reign.” 

[ncgraham_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I normally wouldn’t read another Shakespeare play so soon after taking a class on the Bard, but this May I happened to be going to the Windy City while Ian McDiarmid was performing Timon of Athens with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, so I decided to read the play before going to see it. Because I read so quickly and uncritically, and because I saw the play so soon afterward, I’m having a difficult time separating text from performance in my mind, but I’ll try to do my best.Many have compared Timon to King Lear, and it’s not terribly surprising considering that many of the tropes in this play recur in King Lear: the self-centered protagonist, the proliferation of two-faced flatterers, the faithful servant, stirrings of civil war, various banishments and self-banishments. What I’ve often heard hinted at, but never stated outright, is this small truth: Timon is the poor man’s Lear. It is a decent play, not a great one. Current scholarship holds that Shakespeare collaborated on the play with Thomas Middleton, which makes sense because there’s quite a stylistic shift between the frenetic scenes in Timon’s Athenian home and his melancholy, elegiac asylum in the woods. I can say from experience that the first half plays better while the rest reads better, but the first three acts or so are more entertaining in either format. This is odd because I think I read somewhere that Middleton was probably responsible for the first two to three acts, after which Shakespeare continued in a less enjoyable fashion. I guess his heart wasn’t in it. Maybe he was just using the opportunity to warm up for King Lear.There is one truly great moment in the play: Act III scene 6, wherein Timon invites his false friends to yet another of his feasts, serves them only stones and hot water, then proceeds to chase them out. It’s thrilling both to read and behold (in the right production). The problem is that, after this and his great soliloquy in Act IV scene 1, Timon has nowhere to go as a character. He just continues hating humanity to the exact same degree, not developing in either direction. The ending is not quite as bleak as King Lear—there is a sense that society will continue lumbering on—but it is perhaps Shakespeare’s most cynical.The highly abridged two-act version that I saw at Chicago Shakespeare Theater is probably about the best this play can get. It was reset to the present day, something I don’t usually care for, but in this case it was incredibly effective. The cuts were nicely chosen, although I wish we had seen more of Flavius early on. And the acting was excellent. Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine for you Star Wars geeks) has incredible range and energy, not to mention a powerful voice, and it was a pleasure to view his craft at such close quarters, on a simple thrust stage. Sean Fortunato as Flavius matched him line for line. Alcibiades and Apemantus were among the weakest of the ensemble, regrettable since those are among the most important roles in the play. The last 20 minutes before the intermission, including Timon’s shunning of his friends and his leavetaking of Athens, made for theatrical magic; unfortunately, the director wasn’t able to do much with the scene's of Timon’s solitude, and I simply disliked the ending, which showed Flavius taking Timon’s place in society, with the flatterers and false friends flocking to him. Though it underlined the cynicism of the play, I thought it was out of character for Flavius to befriend the men who ruined his master, and whom he described as “monstrous.” I suppose he could only be pretending to befriend them, with the intent of avenging Timon, but I never thought him in any way vengeful, either.I don't think I’ll ever return to Timon of Athens, but I’m glad I read it, and even happier that I saw the CST production. A part of me still wishes McDiarmid had been playing Lear or Prospero instead, though, which indicates what I think of the play in relation to the rest of the canon.

[amerynth · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Certainly not one of William Shakespeare's best works... I can understand why "Timon of Athens" is rarely staged. It is thought to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton -- which may be why the play feels really uneven -- as if different parts were written by different people and patched together later.The plot is fairly simplistic -- Timon, an Athenian lord is so anxious to spread his wealth around to his friends that he eventually runs out of money and has to sell all of his lands. He becomes bitter after hearing the variety of excuses his friends provide for not helping him out in his financial need. There is a subplot involving a march into Athens by a soldier, but it wasn't particularly well developed (or else I had difficulty following it, I'm not sure which was the case.)The action in the play is very slow and the plot is a bit too simplistic to keep things interesting. I'd recommend this one only to Shakespeare completists.

[michaelm42071 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Stylistically and thematically Timon is like Lear only less so. In the first act Timon generously gives away money to everyone around him, but at the end of the act his steward Flavius lets us know that he’s not as rich as he seems. In the second act his bankruptcy goes public, and people begin to turn down his requests for money. He invites all his “friends” to a banquet of warm water in the third act. He goes into the wilderness, shedding clothes and raging at ingratitude like Lear, and his faithful steward follows, again like Lear. There are static encounters between Timon and various people—Athenian senators, bandits, and so on. Timon and Apemantus the misanthropic philosopher argue over which of them hates the world more and why. After Timon dies, his friend Alcibiades enters Athens (which he’d been besieging since the senators refused to pardon one of his soldiers) as the new leader.