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Timon of Athens (Shakespeare Project) (Patreon)

Published:
2024-08-09 20:20:18
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2026-06
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  • Timon of Athens HLBC Lecture Shakespeare Project.mp3

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Content

'The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends:'

Our journey through the works of William Shakespeare continues, and we are now discussing Timon of Athens.

We’re discussing Shakespeare's nervous breakdown, misanthropy, collaboration, liberality, when virtues become faults, rank hypocrisy, fleeing society, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 my appraisal of Timon of Athens

1:00 Thomas Middleton strikes again

2:00 the reason for Will’s collaboration

4:00 marriage of Susannah Shakespeare

6:00 identifying Middleton vs Shakespeare

8:00 the history of Timon of Athens

9:00 work as return to morality plays

10:00 what is the story of this play?

11:00 meditating upon misanthropy

13:00 what causes misanthropy?

15:00 the inspiration of Diogenes

18:00 hearing echoes of bygone plays

21:00 the misanthropy of Apemantus

23:00 ‘I am wealthy in my friends…’

25:00 Timon’s ‘friends’ decline to help

27:00 false liberality is Timon’s fault

29:00 when virtues become vices

31:00 Timon of Athens vs Jean Valjean

32:00 the comedy of rank hypocrisy

34:00 on the danger of lending to friends

36:00 most sickening scenes in Shakespeare

38:00 Shakespeare’s nervous breakdown

39:00 the mock banquet of Timon

41:00 ‘you knot of mouth-friends…’

43:00 do we feel pity for Timon?

45:00 Herman Melville on Shakespeare

47:00 Misanthropos flees to the woods

50:00 Apemantus vs Timon of Athens

55:00 never knowing the middle of humanity

57:00 the death of Timon of Athens

59:00 my grading for Timon of Athens

Recommended Resources:

  • Audiobook: For this play, I recommend the Arkangel production starring Alan Howard. This series is a great go-to when it comes to audio performances of Shakespeare. 

  • Arden Edition: I continue to recommend the Arden edition for this play because the critical introduction and annotations are incredibly insightful.

  • Philosophy: You might find it interesting to explore the sayings and anecdotes of Diogenes, one of the most famous misanthropes of all time, a cynic who would carry a lamp during the day to signify his search for one honest man. And if you enjoyed our discussion of Aristotelian virtues, then I highly recommend reading The Nicomachean Ethics.

  • Complementary Play: You may find it interesting to think about Timon of Athens in conjunction with our exploration of another famous misanthrope: Alceste from Molière's The Misanthrope. And how does Timon compare with the other sublime Shakespearean protagonists like Lear and Iago? How does he compare with other misanthropes and tragic figures you have met during your journey through great literature?

  • Middleton: If you're intrigued to check out some more work of the playwright Shakespeare collaborated with for this one, then you might like this production of his play The Changeling, starring Helen Mirren and Brian Cox.

  • Our Journey Thus Far: If you want to jump into any specific play, you can check out the works we've enjoyed thus far as part of our read-through here.

Questions for You:

1) Are you a fan of Shakespeare's collaborative works?

2) Do you sympathise with the misanthropic Timon of Athens?  

3) What line, passage, idea, or character most resonated with you? And what is your personal grading for this play?

Happy reading, Bardolators!

Files

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Comments

Anna B.

This is fascinating- the topic of misanthropy and fleeing society. Now I’m very curious about this play and the extras you have highlighted. I had just been thinking about as you get older you experience both ills and goods of the world and maybe less of a willingness to deal with it. I want to be open and energetic like say my 25 year old self, but I can see life does have at least a small affect on this. Fascinating though , and I feel like this is worth investigating. Diogenes sounds exciting , love his lamp practice- 😆!

Jensea Storie

Nice… I love that that came through… still practicing🙏

Spider in your cider

This is my first time reading Timon of Athens. I looked for a production to watch online and found some interesting offerings. One Youtube link took me to "The Show Must Go Online" with actor, director, Rob Myles. Their production of Timon of Athens was an a'la COVID style Zoom meeting with each of the characters in their own participant box. I found it hard to follow. Fortunately, before the play began they interviewed Sir Simon Russell Beale who apparently has been in countless Shakespearian productions. He had played Timon in a production set in what seemed to be America (?)(he dropped his British accent). He had a lot of interesting things to say about the "problematic" nature of Timon of Athens, to the point that they actually used lines from some of Shakespeare's other plays to fill in some of the gaps and make it work. I found this production with Sir Simon on Prime Video. Timon in this production is an American corporate guy in a 3 piece suit who ends up shoeless in a dirty wifebeater t-shirt at the end. Always seeking favor with everyone and obviously addicted to external validation. The idea that you could lose yourself if you depend on others approval for your sense of self is interesting. In fact, during the interview with Sir Simon, the young lady interviewing him compares Lear to Timon. She says Lear loses his kingdom and Timon loses his friends. Sir Simon says, "Well, he didn't really have friends, that's the point" Anyway, interesting premise, but it did seem a little heavy handed in execution. My favorite parts of dialogue were when cynic/philosopher, Apemantus, challenges Timon and his entourage. Feels like Shakespeare.

Clare Shepherd

I finished the Shakespeare Project in January, so this a lovely way to get to reread it. Ben makes some interesting remarks about Middleton, and Shakespeare's I'll health. Somehow it is comforting to know he had a doctor son-in-law to help him in his last days. I totally agree with Ben that this play is somewhat of a curate's egg, good in parts. I shall reread this afternoon in order to mark some more passages suggested here, and overlook my own annotations. I have to say that the reading the Arden individual plays, as Ben suggested has been a joy, so we'll annotated and I like the layout. One of Ben's A+++ lectures, and some excellent comments. Thanks all.

Aida Farrell
>>146215495

An intriguing RSC production of Timon (and many other Shakespeare plays) is available on Marquee TV. It's a subscription service but I've found it well worth it.

Terri Matter

I have so much gratitude towards Benjamin and the Shakespeare Project which allows me to read even such a poor example of Shakespeare as Timon and walk away with a better understanding of Shakespeare the man and his canon, as well as having some other literary comparisons to enrich my understanding of the world.

John Ward

When I first went through Shakespeare's plays a few years ago I was confused by this play not least because of the BBC rather lacklustre performance from the 1980's. This time I remain confused, but now find that most critics do too. The Arden Shakespeare of 2008 seems to explain this confusion because the play was partly written by Thomas Middleton; I can't but agree with this. Harold Bloom, however, states that the evidence for this is "not at all persuasive", though he then refers to the first "three rather inadequate acts" and refers to Timon as a caricature or cartoon! Bloom also states that Hazlitt began the Romantic tradition of exalting Timon and then quotes G Wilson Knight's Wheel of Fire before disagreeing with him as follows: " In no other play is a more forceful, a more irresistible, mastery of technique--almost crude in its massive, architectural effects-- employed. But then, no play is so massive, so rough-hewn into Atlantean shapes from the mountain rock of the poet's mind or soul as this of Timon.....No technical scaffolding in Shakespeare has to stand so weighty and shattering a stress. For this play is Hamlet, T&C, Othello, King Lear, become self-conscious and universal; it includes and transcends them all" I remain confused as Wilson Knight new the play so well having acted the part of Timon many many times. Perhaps the answer to the conundrum is partly, as Harold Bloom points out, that the play can be very effective in the theatre and stages better than it reads, backed by a marvellous score by Duke Ellington. A further admirer of the play was Karl Marx, for obvious reasons, but I wouldn't be surprised if Groucho would have liked it too!

Joe Beaulieu

I see the two ends of the plays as connected because Act I Timon is a mirror of Acts IV-V Timon, superficially very different, but deeply the same. Both are narcissists. Acts IV-V Timon is obviously one, given his over-the-top misanthropic outlook. (The best writing is in Act IV, scene 3, first to Apemantus (369): “If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee…” and then to the thieves (488): “The sun’s a thief ….”) But, he’s just as problematic in Act I. Not only does he have a messed-up transactional view of friendship, but he won’t let others engage in the same transactions as equals: I:2:10 “Honest Ventidius. You mistake my love. / I gave it freely ever, and there’s none / Can truly say he gives if he receives.” It’s hard to have a real friendship (love) if it’s reciprocal gift giving, but it’s still possible. You could imagine trust and then love built up through a series of exchanges. But, when it’s unequal---when it’s not reciprocal---it's impossible. If there was true friendship or love, then all would take delight in both giving and receiving. There’s no love in Act I; it’s just a power play. Acts IV & V are just a different lack of love, different only because Timon lacks power. [I’ve seen two sources discuss this interpretation, “Modern Perspective” in the Folger version of the play, and this two-part discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67yy5BBEV6w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=163-aL2jVT4]

Ellen M

Finally getting to this lecture and really appreciated that a lackluster play still gets a great discussion from Ben. I regularly thought of Les Misanthrope while reading Timon, and his transition to a society hating curmudgeon was entertaining- the play has some of the most awesome insults Shakespeare came up with- so fun to read. I expected the play to be a total dud, and while it’s low down on my list, I liked it better than I expected to because I did feel sorry for Timon. Yes, he was generous for the wrong reasons and to the wrong people, but I interpreted it as a sign of his insecurity and need for affection/approval. I saw it more as misguided than calculating on Timon’s part. Once again, I wish for a Time Machine for the ability to know what was going on in Will’s life that would lead to him writing such a sour piece.

Alisha

I just discovered. Marquee TV as well. 8.99 is so worth it. I found almost all of Shakespear’s play’s. My only regret is that I can’t record them. I found Timon’s life to be haunting and sad. I keep running the last scenes over in my mind. Thank you for your inspiring direction to all of the literature! When do you expect we will finish the Shakespeare plays

Phil
>>146546120

G. Wilson Knight’s interpretative essays are so incredibly interesting, illuminating and compellingly argued with an impressive amount of rigor in support of his ideas. I think you are right about his own experience in performing Timon having a significant influence on his opinion about the play which he ranks very high. The poetry is impressive but I personally do not like this play at all. It is too depressing and cynical and affects zero catharsis for me. But I’m sure this will change as I come to appreciate his works more and more. I am inclined to believe that so much of Shakespeares own mental state at time of writing is voiced through Timon.

Samuel Trevers

'O my good lord, the world is but a word: Were it all yours to give it in a breath, how quickly were it gone!' My favourite line in the play, and one that stayed with me for a Shakespeare that didn't really grab me all the well. I liked Timon as a character, but the nievety made him much less rounded for me, and much less a character I wanted to follow. Still, something I enjoyed reading, and that line alone was memorable enough, and struck such a chord, that it made it worth the read.