Who Is Timon Of Athens?

The story of Timon originally appeared in Plutarch's Life of Mark Antony. It was already a well-loved story when Shakespeare wrote his play around 1607. Timon is a wealthy Athenian citizen, a very generous man and patron of the arts. He is surrounded by friends, who vie to offer him gifts as they know that these will always be reurned tenfold. Only one man, a bitter philosopher called Apemantus, notices that Timon is being used by his "friends". However, Apemantus is proved right when rumours spread that Timon has lost his money. Suddenly nobody wants to see him except debt-collectors. Furious, Timon invites everyone he knows to a feast at which the guests are offered nothing but water and stones. Afterwards he goes to live alone in a cave. Even there he finds gold, but scornfully gives it away to the people who visit him there. Some try to comfort him, but nothing can undo Timon's hatred of humanity, and he dies alone and unrelenting.