Identity Crises And Transformations:Timon’s Misanthropy In Shakespeare’s Timon Of Athens

Timon of Athens,one of Shakespeare’s later works,tells the story of how the protagonist Timon,after the betrayal of his treacherous friends,turns from a generous and benign philanthropist into a cloistered misanthrope.Timon’s sharp and radical transformation makes the play a bitter Shakespearean satire of greedy and hypocritical human nature.This thesis explores the crises and transformations of Timon’s identities from three perspectives,namely his psychological,social and political identities,and how these identity crises and transformations contribute to Timon’s irredeemable hatred of man.Firstly,from the psychological perspective,this thesis analyzes Timon’s psychological identity in line with Erik Erikson’s theory of identity crisis.The na?ve and ignorant Timon who sees the world as full of illusionary love,trust and human fraternity,just like an inexperienced child does in his psychological childhood.When the dark side of human nature begins to sink into his perception,he steps into his psychological adolescence(the identity crisis period),which is characterized by mental confusion,polarity and rebelliousness – seeking his identity among a range of possibilities.After a quick adolescent period,Timon transforms into an old misanthropic man consumed by extreme hatred of the human race for their sins.Secondly,from the sociological perspective,this thesis examines Timon’s social identity according to the theories of Symbolic Interactionism.Before Timon’s identity transformation,he is a wealthy and renowned celebrity in Athens who constructs his glorious fame through the use of profuse gifts and luxurious banquets,which constitute his social performances,in order to acquire positive social epithets and labels from other societal members.But his luminous social role collapses the moment he goes bankrupt and his “vanity fair” comes to an end.Consequently,the disillusioned Timon transforms into a solitary hermit in the woods,detaching himself from the whole system of human socialization.Lastly,from the political perspective,this thesis contends that Athens stands as a unified political entity,and the people in the city-state of Athens all possess a collective identity as Atheniancitizens,because they share the same immaterial attributes which allow them to own a continued and diachronic history,communal territory which is marked by the city wall,common interests,values,institutions and conventions.Timon has been an honourable senior citizen in Athens,sharing the collective political identity with other Athenians.However,repelled by the depravity of the Athenian people,he abandons his collective political identity,transforms into an outsider,banishes himself into the wild woods and stands alone as an independent self-contained entity against the Athenian collective group,thus deprived of his homeland and sense of belonging.This thesis concludes that it is the evil Athenians who compel Timon to undergo such a trio of anguishing identity crises and transformations,which is the reason for Timon’s utter misanthropy and conflicts with the Athenians.