SOURCE: “‘I Am Misanthropos”—A Psychoanalytic Reading of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens,” in The Psychoanalytic Review, Vol. 56, No. 3, 1969, pp. 442-52.

In the essay below, Reid considers the psychology of Timon's behavior to define the meaning of misanthropes in the play.

Timon of Athens has received little attention from the psychoanalytic critics, and what comment exists cannot be said to be satisfactory.† The play is generally considered¹ to be incomplete or unrevised. But this does not account for its neglect, for the play in its present form is generally considered² to represent Shakespeare's intentions. It is unquestionably the singular nature of the subject that accounts for its neglect.

The plot is the simplest Shakespeare utilized for the tragedies. It falls into two abruptly different parts. In the first part, Timon is presented as the most beneficent of men. He gives—feasts and gifts—continually, and he is deliriously happy...