Play #24: Timon of Athens
July 30, 2008
Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy
I know absolutely nothing about this play. It will be a learning experience.
Due August 5.
366 days
Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy
I know absolutely nothing about this play. It will be a learning experience.
Due August 5.
That was different.
As I said, I’d never read this one before – it reminded me of a cross between Greek tragedy and the book of Job (admitting that I haven’t read either of those in a while either).
For the former, none of the characters have names (or very few do, it seems). We seem to be hearing from a ton of people named “Soldier #1″ or “Senator #3″ who sit or stand and talk about the action, or talk about what Timon did off stage or how society in general is acting toward plot of the play. But they’re reflections more than actual characters. It was a strange way of telling the story.
For the latter, instead of losing everything, heading toward the wilderness and debating whether to curse God (while his friends egged him on), we see Timon losing everything, heading toward the wilderness, and choosing to curse society (while his frenemy eggs him on). Of course, Job gets some perspective – Timon never does.
In some ways, this seems like a very different tragedy than the past few. Instead of sweeping statements about ambition or rashness – this seems like a simple morality play (“don’t spend all your money on fair weather friends”). And in some ways, it still has the same theme where the protagonists flaws are what bring him down.
I can see why I’ve never seen this – I can’t see why anyone would do it other than a mission to do every single play.