TIMON OF ATHENS BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
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- čas přidán 17. 01. 2021
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Timon was a very generous man, he gave of himself freely to all of his friends, but little did he know that they were not his friends at all. When Timon fell on hard times, all but one of them abandoned him and he lived out the rest of his days in misery in a cave by the sea.
The story of Timon of Athens takes place 400 years before Christ was born. Timon of Athens was a man generous like no others before him. He gave freely of his riches to all that would have them. He was fond of parties and held them at his estate quite often.
Flavius, his steward, was dismayed and distraught whenever a party was held by the utter lack of care that Timon had for the expense of hosting these parties. Flavius remembered a friend of Timon’s by the name of Apemantus who often remarked on the fact that Timon let others take advantage of his generosity and didn’t even realize it.
Everyone loved Timon for his generosity and praised him frequently. There was a jeweler that claimed that Timon perfected a diamond simply by wearing it and Timon gifted this diamond to his friend Sempronius. Lucullus, a friend of Timon’s, was gifted a wonderful horse and many other residents of Athens sung the praises of Timon.
Apemantus was not impressed by the praise lavished upon Timon by the other Athenians and remarked that they were all liars. He even made a joke to that effect, though it went right over Timon’s head. Apemantus was well known for being an extreme misanthrope, though it did not affect his mental health.
Timon became even worse than Apemantus after Quarter Day, which is a day when all must pay their bills. Most people will save their money to ensure that they have enough for Quarter Day, but Timon did not. He had spent his money frivolously and lavished gifts on his friends and all around him. When Quarter Day came he did not have enough money, so he ordered Flavius to borrow the money from his friends who would surely support him in his time of need.
So, Flavius traveled to Ventidius, a young man that Timon had lent money to as a way to get him out of prison. Timon sent many servants to many of his friends, all asking for monetary support in Timon’s time of need.
Flaminius, another servant of Timon, traveled to Lucullus who asked after Timon’s health. In response, Flaminius told him that Timon was healthy, but that he needed coin to pay his bills and asked that Lucullus would fill a box with coin for him. Lucullus responded by telling Flaminius that Timon was far too fond of parties and that he would not lend money on Quarter Day. He offered money to Flaminius to go back to his master and tell him that Lucullus wasn’t home. Flaminius refused.
Another of Timon’s servants went to Sempronius with the same request. Sempronius asked if they had been to Vestidius, who owed Timon money. When the servant told him that they had, he asked if they had been to see Lucullus. When the servant told him that Lucullus also refused, he pretended to be offended that he was not the first choice and claimed that he would have lent Timon the money if he had been. He refused on those grounds.
Timon was disheartened to find that his friends were not his friends at all. He hatched a plan an when there was a break between creditors coming to collect payment from him he decided to invite all of his friends to his home under the pretense of a banquet.
When his friends arrived there was no shame in their eyes and they assumed that Timon had sent the servants as a joke and all was well. They each made their excuses for not assisting him and gave apologies and compliments, but Timon knew now that they were not to be believed. Still, he was polite and pleasant when speaking to them and brought them to his banquet hall where he had laid out dishes for food and covered them with cloth.
Timon welcomed them to the tables and then said aloud a prayer to the Grecian gods that his friends would "each have enough." In his prayer, he lamented that if the gods borrowed from man, then man would no longer worship them. He prayed that his friends would be blessed by the gods as much as they had blessed him and he bid his friends to uncover their dishes and lap at them like the dogs they were.
When his friends uncovered the dishes they found that each of the dishes contained no food, only warm water. Timon then cursed them and told them to use the water to wash themselves of the flatteries they had bestowed upon him. He then flung the water and dishes at them and left Athens with nothing but a shovel.
End of script space...
Read this play years ago and the story still holds up even in our modern times. It'd make great cautionary tale of about the "friends" we make in life. I see this in the setting of those living in luxury like in Miami or LA or New York.
An excellent account of the story.
These are so good, keep it up!
G.M.D
Douglas Murray invited Kevin Spacey on stage to do a reenactment of this. Look it up. It will bring tears to your eyes.
watching this finding out i was named after timon of athens
Good video but 'Timon' is pronounced to rhyme with 'Simon'
Please i want " things fall apart"
Like if you have to watch this for school 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Wait, why did the skin colour change to black when u introduced the first bad character?
OP is woke, but the content he makes is good
It's spelled Alkeveathis....
You mean Alcibiades.