Timon of Athens · Chapter
Scene IV explained
Timon is besieged by creditors' servants demanding payment.
What happens
Timon is besieged by creditors' servants demanding payment. He erupts in rage at their ingratitude, then abruptly decides to host another feast for his false friends, despite Flavius's warning that he lacks the funds.
Themes in this chapter
Ingratitude
Timon rails against the ingratitude of those who feasted at his table and now demand payment.
Fortune and Reversal
Timon's fall from wealth and generosity to being besieged by creditors illustrates a dramatic reversal of fortune.
Characters to notice
- Timon
Confronts creditors with fury, then resolves to host another feast.
- Flavius
Muffled and trying to avoid the creditors; warns Timon of his depleted finances.
- Servilius
Attempts to delay the creditors, citing Timon's discontent.
- Flaminius
Briefly appears to announce Timon's unavailability.
- Titus
One of the creditors' servants pressing for payment.
Key passages
“The place which I have feasted, does it now, Like all mankind, show me an iron heart?”
The house where I once entertained guests now treats me as coldly as everyone else.
Timon laments the universal ingratitude he perceives.
“You must consider that a prodigal course Is like the sun's; but not, like his, recoverable.”
A spendthrift's wealth, like the sun, sets, but unlike the sun it does not rise again.
A creditor's servant comments on Timon's irreversible financial decline.
“I know my lord hath spent of Timon's wealth, And now ingratitude makes it worse than stealth.”
My master has benefited from Timon's generosity, and his ingratitude now makes it worse than theft.
Hortensius reflects on the moral failing of those who took Timon's gifts.