Good friends might be worth their weight in gold, but in Timon of Athens, our hero's friends are only interested in the gold. They're happy to call themselves Timon's best pals when they share in his wealth and benevolence, but once his luck changes, they're nowhere to be found. As the old songs says, nobody knows you when you're down and out.
What makes friendship such an important theme is Timon himself: he talks about his friends all the time, and he wholeheartedly believes in his bonds with them. In the end, he realizes his friends were only hanging around because of his cash, but by that time, it's too late. He has nothing left.
So what's friendship all about, then? If you've got a lot of money, can you ever trust that your friends are really your friends? Is friendship about gifts and feasts, anyway? How can you tell who your real friends actually are?
Questions About Friendship
- Are any of Timon's friendships real? How do his relationships with his servants differ from his bond with the Senators and lords?
- How does Timon define friendship in the beginning of the play? How does that change over the course of the play? Which definition do you think is more accurate?
- Why can Timon's servants see through his friends, while he himself cannot? Is he more gullible because he values friends above everything else? Or is it something else?
- Do you think Timon's fake friends ever regret how they treated Timon? When the Senators go to the woods to find Timon, are they sincere, or do they just want to stop Alcibiades?
Chew on This
Timon is too naive and trusting with his friends. It's his fault that he ends up without any friends in Athens.
If Flavius were really a true friend to Timon, he would have tried harder to warn Timon about his troubles.