SOURCE: de Alvarez, Leo Paul S. “Timon of Athens.” In Shakespeare as Political Thinker, edited by John Alvis and Thomas G. West, pp. 157-79. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1981.

In the following essay, de Alvarez maintains that the city of Athens and its politics are the main focus of Timon of Athens, and closely examines the three principal characters—Timon, Apemantus, and Alcibiades.

Timon of Athens, according to Howard B. White, is perhaps “the most complete political tragedy in Shakespeare.”¹ Such a statement might be justified by the lack of any other focus in the play but that of the city. No question of love, for example, diverts us from the story of Athens. We have very little in the way of anything pleasant—there seems to be no delight in the play. The banquet and the masque, for all their brilliance, are somehow unpleasant. The three...