Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare

ISBN 10: 0681446595

ISBN 13: 9780681446595

Publisher: HarperCollins

• Where’s Pumbaa
• Timon’s partying hard and showering people with gifts, even Apemantus, who hates everyone.
• Dumbass has been using American Express, though, and now he owes money to several people. His servant, Flavius, had been trying to tell him to chill the fuck out with the purchases, but Timon would scoff every time.
• Timon sends his servants to a few people he’s given gifts to over the years, hoping they’ll donate to his debt fund, but they all make up some manner of excuse despite their own financial stability.
• Of course all of his servants sink with the ship because Timon is just so noble and respectable and they weep for him in this condition. Rubbage. The ruling class doesn’t fuck with the working class like that. Ditch Timon and go work for someone else.
• My man realizes that no one wants to help him despite all his charity and his veteran status. He doesn’t have enough estate to even sell to pay off the debts. “If you ain’t got no money, take your broke ass home” is really hitting hard rn
• The Senate orders his execution so he runs off into the wilderness and curses man and eats roots.
• He meets Apemantus there and they roast each other for too many lines. He roasts some thieves and they’re just like, “Damn, bruh…”
• Um, my friend gave me a hippo bookmark that looks like it’s floating on top of the pages so now I’m using that instead of the feather.
• At some point, Timon discovers gold. He’s too jaded and senile to bother joining society outside of Athens so he keeps living in a dank cave. Also, everyone just accepts that it’s HIS gold. Bloke just dug it up. Idfk. Go dig up your own?
• Sex workers vilified, ughk.
• Timon is presented as some great loss to the city because, I guess, his charitable contributions were keeping the economy afloat. Here’s the issue, though…he was irresponsibly spending what he didn’t have. He was in DEBT. Sure, his peers are greedy bastards but that’s kind of what happens when you behave as though money buys friendship–You get surrounded by gold diggers. What did Timon have in common with these people besides being a part of the ruling class?? Of course they kicked him off the yacht when he went broke. His “real” friends all turn out to be broke philosophers or servants.
• Not sure what this is trying to say about poets and painters. There’s a real Ecclesiastes theme going on here, “vanity vanity it’s all vanity omfg!!” as though artists don’t create pieces using skills that are actually valuable, it’s just upper class buyers (like Timon) who inflate the prices beyond reason for their ulterior motives.
• Anyways, Coriolanus happens again and Alcibiades wrecks Athens on Timon’s behalf.