SOURCE: Brownlow, F. W. “Conclusion: Timon of Athens.” In Two Shakespearean Sequences: Henry VI to Richard II and Pericles to Timon of Athens, pp. 216-32. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977.

In the following essay, Brownlow argues that there is no evidence for the dating of Timon of Athens and suggests that the play may indeed have been Shakespeare's last work. The critic also discusses the play's theme of the corrupting effect of wealth.

The Two Noble Kinsmen was written and first performed in 1613. Whether it was by Shakespeare and Fletcher, as the 1634 title-page says, or whether Shakespeare wrote it alone, as Paul Bertram argues,¹ is a question that cannot be finally decided. It is certain however that of Shakespeare's datable plays it is the last that he either wrote or partly wrote. It is equally certain that there is nothing valedictory about it. Although Shakespeare had only...