A messy, uneven and disillusioned play, Timon of Athens is rarely studied or performed because of scepticism regarding both its authorship and completion. Like Pericles there seems little doubt that Shakespeare wrote the majority, but quite what he was trying to do is another matter.
Timon of Athens is rich and generous, happy to provide his friends, servants and acquaintances with money whenever they require it. Only the cynical Apemantus questions the soundness of Timon's actions, and the motives of his supposed friends, wondering at "what a number of men eats Timon, and he sees 'em not. It grieves me to see so many dip their meat in one man's blood." When Timon's creditors ask for payment of their loans, Timon goes to his friends, but they all refuse to help him. Even worse, Timon's one loyal friend Alcibiades is exiled from Athens. After renouncing all his friends at one last banquet, Timon retires to a misanthropic life as a hermit in a cave. As he rails against "yellow, glittering precious gold", he completely renounces mankind, to die alone in his cave, his epitaph claiming that "Here lie I, Timon, who alive / All living men did hate". One of Shakespeare's more puzzling plays, Timon of Athens is unusually bleak and unforgiving, with Timon behaving like an unsympathetic version of Lear (they were both written within a couple of years of each other). --Jerry Brotton
Timon of Athens is rich and generous, happy to provide his friends, servants and acquaintances with money whenever they require it. Only the cynical Apemantus questions the soundness of Timon's actions, and the motives of his supposed friends, wondering at "what a number of men eats Timon, and he sees 'em not. It grieves me to see so many dip their meat in one man's blood." When Timon's creditors ask for payment of their loans, Timon goes to his friends, but they all refuse to help him. Even worse, Timon's one loyal friend Alcibiades is exiled from Athens. After renouncing all his friends at one last banquet, Timon retires to a misanthropic life as a hermit in a cave. As he rails against "yellow, glittering precious gold", he completely renounces mankind, to die alone in his cave, his epitaph claiming that "Here lie I, Timon, who alive / All living men did hate". One of Shakespeare's more puzzling plays, Timon of Athens is unusually bleak and unforgiving, with Timon behaving like an unsympathetic version of Lear (they were both written within a couple of years of each other). --Jerry Brotton
Used availability for William Shakespeare's Timon of Athens
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Hardback Editions
October 2007 : Hardback
| Title: Timon of Athens Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-4344-9414-4 / 978-1-4344-9414-6 Publisher: Wildside Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
1959 : Hardback
| Title: Timon of Athens Author(s): William SHAKESPEARE Publisher: Methuen Availability: Amazon More details... |
Paperback Editions
December 2010 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-4344-1020-X / 978-1-4344-1020-7 Publisher: Wildside Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 2009 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-4209-3288-8 / 978-1-4209-3288-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Digireads.com Availability: Amazon More details... |
August 2008 : Paperback
| Title: The Oxford Shakespeare: Timon of Athens (Oxford World's Classics) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-19-953744-5 / 978-0-19-953744-0 (UK edition) Publisher: OUP Oxford Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
October 2007 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-4344-9413-6 / 978-1-4344-9413-9 Publisher: Wildside Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
September 2007 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Shakespeare Library Classic) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-59986-798-2 / 9781599867984 (USA edition) Publisher: FQ Classics Availability: Amazon More details... |
July 2006 : Mass Market Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Folger Shakespeare Library) Author(s): William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine ISBN: 0-671-47955-5 / 978-0-671-47955-8 (USA edition) Publisher: Simon & Schuster Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
March 2006 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Webster's Italian Thesaurus Edition) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-497-91323-2 / 978-0-497-91323-6 (USA edition) Publisher: ICON Group International, Inc. Availability: Amazon More details... |
January 2006 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Webster's Thesaurus Edition) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-497-25365-8 / 978-0-497-25365-3 (USA edition) Publisher: ICON Group International, Inc. Availability: Amazon More details... |
April 2005 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Penguin Shakespeare) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-14-101661-2 / 978-0-14-101661-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Penguin Classics Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
June 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Oxford World's Classics) Author(s): William Shakespeare, Thomas Middleton ISBN: 0-19-281497-4 / 978-0-19-281497-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
April 2001 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (The New Cambridge Shakespeare) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-521-29404-5 / 978-0-521-29404-1 (UK edition) Publisher: Cambridge University Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
February 2000 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (The Pelican Shakespeare) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-14-071487-1 / 978-0-14-071487-6 (UK edition) Publisher: Penguin Classics Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
June 1993 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Arden Shakespeare: Second Series) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-17-443476-6 / 978-0-17-443476-4 (UK edition) Publisher: Arden Shakespeare Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
May 1970 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (New Penguin Shakespeare) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-14-070721-2 / 978-0-14-070721-2 (UK edition) Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
May 1969 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens (Arden Shakespeare S.) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-416-27860-4 (UK edition) Publisher: Routledge,an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
January 1963 : Paperback
| Title: Timon of Athens Author(s): William Shakespeare Publisher: Dell Publishing Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
Audio Editions
October 2005 : Audio CD
| Title: Timon of Athens (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-932219-33-1 / 9781932219333 (USA edition) Publisher: AudioGO Availability: Amazon More details... |
August 2004 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Timon of Athens (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-932219-73-0 / 9781932219739 (USA edition) Publisher: Audio Partners Availability: Amazon More details... |
November 1999 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Timon of Athens: Unabridged (Arkangel) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-14-086892-5 / 978-0-14-086892-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
January 1999 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Timon of Athens: Unabridged (Complete Works) Author(s): William Shakespeare ISBN: 1-85849-689-6 / 9781858496894 (UK edition) Publisher: Argo Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
Other Editions
December 2011 : Kindle edition
| Title: Timon of Athens (Illustrated) Author(s): William Shakespeare Publisher: Black Swan Classics Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
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