Timon of Athens and Its Themes

Timon of Athens might be regarded as the ancestor of Molière's Les Misanthrope in that Alceste seems to embody all the negativity of Timon. Timon also illustrates the error of equating friendship with finances. He finds that his idealization of friendship has been an illusion (Mowat, xiv). He is, thus, a man nobly but unwisely generous (Hinman, 17). The play, itself, is one which its author never quite finished (Hinman, 27).