"Undone By Goodness": The Tragedy of Giving in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens (2010)

Undergraduate: Elizabeth Turgeon

Faculty Advisor: Reid Barbour
Department: English

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In this paper, I analyze generosity as it is presented within William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens, specifically in its dual capacity as a virtue and a vice. I show how Timon, the protagonist of the play, represents an ideal and limitless giver but that such giving is unsustainable in a world that is not ideal. The alternative to limitless giving is a more cautious, circumstantial approach; yet imposing such limits on giving undermines the nobility of the act. This is the tragedy of the play, and of giving itself. In my paper, I incorporate the leading theological and casuistical authorities on giving from Shakespeare's day to explain each type of giving and its complications. I conclude that Shakespeare's play ultimately does not side with either approach to giving; rather, the moral of this play might approximate that ideal generosity ought to inspire our giving, but casuistry ought to inform it.