Timon of Athens – A. J. Drake's Shakespeare Site

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Tragedies

Shakespeare, William. The Life of Timon of Athens. (The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies, 3rd ed. 850-904.)

ACT 1

1. In Act 1, Scene 1, what kind of picture of the wealthy protagonist, Timon of Athens, is provided by the dialogue between the merchant and the jeweler, and then the poet and painter? What is the significance of the poet’s imagined scene in which the protagonist is favored and then scorned by Lady Fortune? Why would the poet perhaps want to present Timon with this lesson?

2. In Act 1, Scene 1, what is our first glimpse of Timon himself? How does he respond first to the imprisoned Ventidius’s plea, delivered via the man’s messenger, and then to the Old Athenian’s suit regarding the attention Timon’s servant Lucilius is paying to his daughter? What motivates Timon at this early point in the play?

3. In Act 1, Scene 1, the Cynic philosopher Apemantus makes his first appearance. What are the main tenets of the Cynics? (This may require online research—the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy and/or similar sites should prove helpful.) Furthermore, how does Apemantus treat Timon and other Lords? What seems to be the relationship between Apemantus and Timon?

4. In Act 1, Scene 2, both Apemantus the Cynic and Timon give us much more information about their respective outlooks on life. What more do we learn from Apemantus in that regard? What intentions does he manifest towards Timon—why is he in attendance at the feast: why does he pay attention to this wealthy nobleman whom he holds in contempt? What’s in it for Apemantus?

5. In Act 1, Scene 2, how does Timon see his own continual acts of extreme generosity towards others as well as others’ shows of supposed generosity towards him—i.e. all the gift-giving, feasting and fine words he and his compatriots engage in? What does Timon apparently believe he’s accomplishing by distributing such largesse? What would the perfect society look like if Timon had his way and “Timonomics” reigned everywhere?

6. In Act 1, Scene 2, after a decorous masque in which some female dancers personate the Amazons and are richly rewarded for it, and in the midst of an almost orgiastic bout of gift-bestowing on Timon’s part to several lords, what new perspective does his Steward, Flavius, introduce us to? How much financial trouble is Timon in by now? Why hasn’t the Steward already told him this truth instead of keeping it to himself?

7. In Act 1, Scene 2, when Apemantus gets a scene-ending moment alone with Timon, how does his attempt to “speak truth to riches” go? Why does the Cynic philosopher, for all his sharp-tongued jesting, fail to get through to the wealthy lord? How does Timon process what Apemantus says?

ACT 2

8. In Act 2, Scene 1, why is the Athenian Senator “calling in” his debts—i.e., preparing to send his servant Caphis to demand that Timon pay back the money he has borrowed from the Senator? What realities about borrowing and extending credit—economic realities, in other words—is the Senator pointing out? By what logic does the Senator determine that there is no way Timon can stay solvent for any length of time?

9. In Act 2, Scene 2, Apemantus and a Fool engage with the servants who (on their usurer or moneylender masters’ behalf) have gathered at Timon’s estate to call in his debts. How do Apemantus and the Fool defeat their targets, and what role do their constant references to pimping, prostitution, and venereal disease play in the critiques they offer?

10. In Act 2, Scene 2, Timon’s worthy Steward at last tries to get him to understand the gravity of his financial situation. What is that situation, as the distraught Steward lays it out? What brute fact of Timon’s finances complicates any notion of recovery? How does Timon himself process his awful predicament, and where does he still think help may be found? How would you assess Timon’s understanding, his state of mind, at present?

ACT 3

11. In Act 3, Scene 1, in hopes of securing loans to get him through his difficulties, Timon has authorized his servant Flaminius to start making the rounds amongst those who have enjoyed his largesse. How does the conversation go between Flaminius and Timon’s supposed friend Lucullus? On what principle and in what spirit does Lucullus refuse to help Timon at such a critical time?

12. In Act 3, Scene 2, it’s time for another of Timon’s servants, Servilius, to ask another friend of Timon, Lucius, for a loan. What’s Lucius’ reason for failing to deliver? Aristotle, who wrote about qualities such as beneficence, munificence, and magnanimity in the Nicomachean Ethics, claimed that those who give assistance nobly find this activity more pleasant than do those who receive the assistance. Lucius professes to approve of Timon’s past generosity, but what stark truth does his present attitude bring home about the psychology of borrowing and lending?

13. In Act 3, Scene 2, after Lucius rejects with facile courtesy Servilius’s request for a loan on behalf of Timon, three gentlemen share their chorus-like judgments about the rejection of this desperate bid? What observations do they offer? Given that those observations in no way change what has just happened, what, if anything, is their value?

14. In Act 3, Scene 3, Sempronius takes his turn at disappointing Timon by refusing him assistance in spite of the man’s past generosity towards him. What rationale does Sempronius provide, and what inferences about human nature does Timon’s servant draw from that rationale?

15. In Act 3, Scene 4, servants gather at Timon’s estate to promote their masters’ suits against him. What perspective do these disgruntled servants offer us on Timon’s unfolding financial tragedy? Consider the following: echoing Apemantus’ earlier quip, “Men set their doors against a setting sun” (1.2.137), Lucius’ servant says, “a prodigal course / Is like the sun’s, but not, like his, recoverable. I fear / ‘Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon’s purse” (3.4.14-17). What insight do you find in these seasonal-cycle metaphors with regard to human nature and economic arrangements and behavior?

16. In Act 3, Scenes 4-5, and then in Scene 7, Timon himself has clearly begun to register the depth of the delusion and betrayal involved in his ruin. In Scenes 4-5, how does he respond to his creditors’ servants? Then, in Scene 7, how—by means of a “dinner” very different from any previous ones he has offered—does he bring home to his creditors the true nature of their betrayal? By now, what new principle has Timon hit upon with regard to his fellow human beings? Does it seem too broad, or justified? Explain.

17. In Act 3, Scene 6, the military captain Alcibiades brings a matter to the Athenian Senate and finds himself not only disappointed in his hopes of obtaining mercy for a soldier who has killed another man, but banished into the bargain for his bluntness in defending the requested What motivates the senators to refuse Alcibiades’ request, and to what resolution does their intransigence drive him?

ACT 4

18. In Act 4, Scene 1, Timon, determined to quit Athens, rages and embraces the coming-on of “confusion” in all human affairs. Which individuals and groups, and what sorts of behavior, customs, and norms does he condemn, and (if you can tell) why does he condemn them and in some cases link them? With regard to Timon’s personal intentions, why is he betaking himself to the woods, and once he is there, what wish does he express for the growth of his hatred against his fellow human beings?

19. In Act 4, Scene 2, how do the language and conduct of Timon’s former Steward, Flavius, undercut any tendency an audience might have to be carried along with Timon in his growing misanthropy? What does Flavius announce as his plan going forward with respect to Timon’s predicament?

20. In Act 4, Scene 3, which consists of a series of strange confrontations between self-exiled Timon and those who come to visit him in the wilderness outside Athens, Timon first digs for roots to eat and instead discovers—gold! How does he use this gold during his first meeting with Alcibiades and the prostitutes accompanying that banished soldier? How does this false bounty from “mother earth” help Timon advance his misanthropic intentions toward his first visitors? Why does Timon spend so much of his time engaging with the prostitutes who accompany Alcibiades—why does he favor their trade so intensely?

21. In Act 4, Scene 3, Apemantus visits Timon. What does this Cynic philosopher think of the ruined man’s current living arrangements and conduct: why don’t these amount to genuine philosophical cynicism? Why doesn’t Apemantus believe that what Timon is doing might cure him of his despair? How does Timon respond to Apemantus’ taunting criticisms—how does he defend the path of exile and hermit-status that he has chosen to take, and to what extreme apostrophe to “gold” and against all humanity does his angry conversation with Apemantus lead him around lines 375-86?

22. In Act 4, Scene 3, after Apemantus leaves, Timon gives gold to some bandits who visit him, and offers them examples supposedly proving that even the sun, moon, and earth are thieves. But then his onetime Steward Flavius shows up. What does Flavius do to try to bring Timon to patience? What effect do Flavius’s efforts have on Timon—how does the latter respond, and how do his remarks at the end of this long scene sum up the resolution at which he has arrived about his fellow human beings?

ACT 5

23. In Act 5, Scene 1, Timon’s old flatterers the painter and the poet appear in front of his post-exilic lodgings: a patch of wilderness near the ocean. How do they understand his downfall and current condition? What does Timon do when he’s faced with such visitors, and how does this scene help to set up the one that follows, in which Athenian senators visit Timon to make a pitch for his help against Alcibiades, who is threatening military destruction?

24. In Act 5, Scene 2, the Athenian senators visit Timon to try to gain his assistance against Alcibiades, who means to attack Athens for its mistreatment of him when he sought mercy for one of his soldiers. This is the last we are going to hear from Timon alive, so what is his parting shot against the senators and all humankind? Why do you suppose Timon not only makes this declaration but cruelly leads the senators on before making it—how does such treatment amount to revenge for the pattern of injustice he surely feels has brought him to his ruin?

25. In Act 5, Scene 4, a soldier sent by Alcibiades discovers Timon’s grave, which bears an inscription the soldier can’t read, so he determines to bring a wax copy of it back to his captain. In Scene 5, the Athenian senators try to convince Alcibiades to limit the scope of his wrath. What rationale do they offer for such restraint on their enemy’s part? How does Alcibiades respond, and why does he respond as he does? To what extent, if any, does this soldier’s final decision affect or limit the tragic dimension of Timon of Athens? Explain.

26. General question: some audience members may find watching Timon’s fate unfold until he dies a ranting, root-gnawing misanthrope too bitter a spectacle to constitute a proper tragedy—i.e., a play that affords us deeper insight into the human condition. But if we want to engage productively with the play, we must understand the true cause of Timon’s tragedy: what fundamental misunderstanding lies at its heart, and drives Timon to reject all faith in humanity itself? Is Shakespeare suggesting that “friendship” and all human institutions are shams, or is there is a better way to take the painful lesson that Timon learns? Explain.

Edition. Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies + Digital Edition. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93860-9.