Timon of Athens

Timon, a fabulously rich Athenian, is the perfect friend generous to all and eager to help those in a bind. He spends lavishly and fulfills every request for favors. Idealizing friendship, and believing his friends to be sincere and true, he is sure that they would do the same for him. Yet, when his coffers are empty, so are his friendships, and no one is willing to help him out, each finding an excuse to turn his back. Angered, and thoroughly disillusioned he withdraws from Athens into the wilderness. From caring for all he now spends his days bitterly denouncing mankind. Timon is an intriguing character, possessed of intensity both in love and in rage. One of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays it is believed by scholars to be incomplete, or a collaboration with Thomas Middleton.