College Language Association

ALCHEMY AND "TIMON OF ATHENS"

Author(s): David M. Bergeron
Source: CLA Journal, Vol. 13, No. 4 (June, 1970), pp. 364-373
Published by: College Language Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44324638
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 ALCHEMY AND TIMON OF ATHENS

By David M. Bergeron

The powerful presence of gold and its importance in Timon

of Athens have been commented on by many critics; it is an
inescapable part of the play.1 Shakespeare in this play shares
many resemblances to Ben Jonson and his treatment of the
" gold theme." No one, to my knowledge, has made an effort
to link the problem of gold in Timon with the pseudo-science
of alchemy. Some of the language of the play and the struc-
tural movement of the play reveal a certain knowledge of
and perhaps reliance on alchemy. But more important, there
is a metaphorical sense in which alchemy is relevant to this
play. In a way, Timon is an alchemist who falls painfully
short of his goal, and alchemy becomes something of an in-
forming principle in the play by which we can measure the
various distortions in the lives of the characters. None of this
is postulated to show that Shakespeare had any specialized
knowledge of alchemy, for whatever allusions he makes are of
a general sort, the common knowledge of the layman. The
practice of alchemy is then a type of analogue for the play
Timon.
Alchemy had among its original purposes the philosophical
quest for knowledge and truth. It was of a mystical and
spiritual nature. We are perhaps most familiar with the ma-
terialistic aspects of alchemy - the pursuit of the philosopher's
stone which could, among other things, turn base metals into
gold. Ben Jonson is just one of several writers who have shown
how the noble concepts of alchemy were distorted into a
greedy and grasping reach for material wealth. At the heart
of alchemy whether honestly practiced or maliciously exploited
is the principle of transmutation. This transformation should
ideally be upward in movement - from baser to purer.
There are several moments in the play when the language is

1See R. P. Draper, " Tinum of Athens," Shakespeare Quarterly, VTTT (1957),

195-200.

364

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 Alchemy and " Timon of Athens 99 365
at least suggestive of alchemy, even if it does not reveal any
technical terms. After the first banquet scene Flavius ponders
the empty coffers and says of Timon that he is " of no power
to make his wishes good: / His promises fly so beyond his
state " (I. ii. 202-3) .2 Though Flavius probably does not have
it in mind, this description is quite appropriate to an alchemist
for the promises are not commensurate with the product. The
Senator at the beginning of Act III gives a different view of
Timon; he attests Timon's transforming, perhaps alchemical,
power:

If I want gold, steal but a beggar's dog,

And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold.
If I would sell my horse, and buy twenty more
Better than he, why give my horse to Timon,
Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me, straight,
And able horses. (III. i. 6-11)
As the Senator describes him, it seems as if Tim
the philosopher's stone by which he might wor
power.
Like the true alchemist, Timon knows the power of gold.
This is most clearly and forcefully stated in Act IV when he
uncovers gold. He says as he finds the gold: " Thus much of
this will make black white, foul fair, / Wrong right, base noble,
old young, coward valiant " (IV. iii. 28-9) . This is something
of a catalogue of the transmuting efficacy of gold - gold which
can change base to noble. Is not this the alchemist's quest?
Having acknowledged the conventional and beneficial power of
Timon moves quickly to speak of its malignant force,
which is a kind of alchemy in reverse -
This yellow slave
Will knit and break religions, bless the accursed,
Make the hoar leprosy adored, place thieves
And give them title, knee and approbation
With senators on the bench: this is it
That makes the wappen'd widow wed again. . . .
(11. 33-38)
He gives gold to the various people who visit him in this scene
with the admonition that they use it to sow destruction among
2 All quotations axe from The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. Hardin Craig
(Chilcago, 1961).

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 366 David M. Bergeron
men. Timon is a disillusioned and perverse al
course, he has some justification, having himsel
what victimized by the materialistic pursuit of
supposed friends. In the final scene in which Ti
he faces again the Painter and the Poet. He i
ironic play on the words " honest " and " count
of which have some relevance for alchemy. He
the two before he beats them, and he says to th
are an alchemist; make gold of that. / Out, rasc
i. 118-119) . Timon uses the word alchemist here
disapprobation; it is linked with the idea of coun
dissembling. The world surrounding Athens is t
with many examples of false alchemists, each
his own self-seeking quest and all spurred on
This is the reason Timon views all those around
transformed into beasts (IV. iii. 349 f) .
Timon is not the only one who has at least a sli
ance with the language of alchemy. The Fool in
something about it. In the conversation between
the Fool, and some servants, the Fool is called u
a " whoremaster." He responds:
A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. ' Tis
time 't appears like a lord; sometime like a lawyer; s
a philosopher, with two stones moe than 's artificial
(II. ii. 115-118)
The artificial stone refers to the traditional philosopher's stone,
part of the stock in trade of the alchemist.
There is a word used several times in the play which I think
has a relationship to alchemy, at least it can be interpreted
in that way. The word is contained in the Servant's remark
when he reports that all Timon's friends have been touched
and found base metal (III. iii. 6) . In the play Hamlet Shake-
speare had used the term with reference to metals. Near the
beginning of Act IV , the King inquires of the Queen concerning
Hamlet's whereabouts. In response Gertrude says that he has
gone to take care of Polonius' body - " O'er whom his very
madness, like some ore / Among a mineral of metals base, /
Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done " (IV. i. 25-27) .
The pure mineral, gold, is contrasted with the ignoble, base
metal.

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 Alchemy and " Timon of Athens " 367
In III. iv., Flavius uses the term " base " in speaking to the
servant of Lucius. Several people are trying to get money for
Timon's debts from Flavius. He speaks to the issue of hypo-
crisy among Timon's friends, and Lucius' servant says that this
is not a sufficient answer to their demands - " this answer will
not serve." But Flavius responds: " If 'twill not serve, 'tis not
so base as you; / For you serve knaves " (III. iv. 58-9) . I
think Flavius uses base here as the opposite of gold - these
friends are incapable of being transmuted into gold. This is
doubtless what Timon has in mind when he says: " The place
which I have feasted, does it now, / Like all mankind, show
me an iron heart? " (III. iv. 83-4) .
In the next scene Shakespeare uses the term " base " again
which makes three times within as many scenes. Now it is
Alcibíades who is speaking. He has made his plea for his
friend, but the Senate has reacted with hostility and favors the
death of the friend. Alcibíades in his anger at the Senate
says: " I cannot think but your age has forgot me; / It could
not else be, I should prove so base . . ." (III. v. 92-3) . Alcibí-
ades will retain his purity of friendship. Flavius sums up the
perverse alchemy of the play when he visits Timon in IV. iii.
He looks upon the broken Timon and marvels at the transfor-
mation which has been worked in this good man's life: " What
viler thing upon the earth than friends / Who can bring noblest
minds to basest ends! " (IV. iii. 470-1) . The process of alche-
my has been inverted, for the change in Timon has been from
gold to base metal. I think that it is perhaps more than
coincidence that Shakespeare places in the mouths of the two
" pure " characters words of condemnation for base acts. They
are in a position to know the difference between gold and dross.
In these several examples the language of the play reflects on
the process of alchemy and opens the way for viewing the
structure and meaning of the play in terms of alchemy figura-
tively considered.
In Timon we have essentially a tri-partite structure which
is cyclical in nature and is concerned with the process of
transformation. We begin with Timon in great wealth, as the
Second Lord says: "Plutus, the god of gold, /Is but his
steward . . ." (I. i. 287-8) . By the middle of the play we learn
that Timon no longer has money and that his friends will not

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 368 David M. Bergeron
supply his need. The final movement of the pl
with Timon's stay in the woods outside Athe
cally, he finds gold again while digging in the
not desire gold now. Instead he delivers curses
of gold, that " sweet king-killer, and dear di
natural son and sire.' " It is obvious that a c
mutation, has occurred in both Timon's fortunes and his
attitudes.
Structurally, then, the play has moved from gold to lack of
gold to gold again. This structure has some relationship to an
alchemical process. Professor Graubard observes in his fasci-
nating study of alchemy: " While some alchemists viewed the
formation of gold as the final stage, others postulated a cycle
evolution in which gold became somehow contaminated anew
and thus converted into a base metal to resume again the long
path of transformation under celestial influence."3 While
Timon completes the cycle by finding material gold again, he
does not attain spiritual gold; this is his failure as an alchemist.
His idealism is shattered - transformed - and it is not re-
covered.
Another way of viewing this cyclical, quasi-alchemical struc-
ture is to look at the relationship of Timon and his friends. At
the beginning of the play Timon is wealthy in friends, not just
gold. His friends equal wealth. He remarks in the first ban-
quet scene: " I have often wished myself poorer, that I might
come nearer to you. We are born to do benefits: and what
better or properer can we call our own than the riches of our
friends?" (I. ii. 103-106) . In Act II when Flavius makes
known to him that the treasury is depleted, Timon is not
fearful: " Canst thou the conscience lack, / To think I shall
lack friends? " (II. ii. 183-4) ; and " these wants of mine are
crown'd, / That I account them blessings; for by these / Shall
I try friends " (II. ii. 190-193) . This period of trial will make
manifest how wealthy Timon truly is, for his wealth - friends -
is incorruptible and fadeth not away.
So he thinks. The second movement shows how impover-
ished Timon truly is. His friends are just what Flavius said

'Mark Graubard, Astrology and Alchemy: Two Fossil Sciences (New York
1953), p. 253.

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 Alchemy and " Timon oj Athens " 369
they were - " feast-won, fast-lost." Timon's servants seek out
the friends who have benefited so bountifully from Timon's
liberality; each has some sort of excuse. Lucullus claims " that
this is no time to lend money, especially upon bare friendship,
without security " (III. i. 45-47) . Flaminius, one of Timon's
servants, is properly incensed at this attitude: " Thou disease
of a friend, and not himself! / Has friendship such a faint and
milky heart, / It turns in less than two nights? " (11. 56-58) .
The response of the friends is shocking, shattering, except that
we have known from the beginning that their friendship was at
best superficial. They could blossom under the brightness of
the sun, but let storm come and they would vanish into no-
thingness. Finally the Servant reports to Sempronius about
Timon's friends: " They have all been touch'd and found base
metal, for / They have all denied him " (III. iii. 6-7) . These
friends should have been pure gold - the object of the alche-
mist's search; instead they are found to be base metal. The
refining process of trial and testing has shown them for what
they are: they are valueless dross. The fire consumes them
instead of refining them.
The Servant's remark has come precisely at the midpoint of
the play. It looks as if the whole alchemical process has been
inverted - gold has proved to be base metal. I would argue
that the play does not lack the final movement of the alchemi-
cal cycle. There is a partial though incomplete recovery of the
wealth of friendship.
Flavius and Alcibíades illustrate my point. Flavius has con-
sistently throughout the play been Timon's steadfast servant
and friend. Flavius shares the little gold he has with his
fellow-servants, and he pledges to seek out Timon: " I'll ever
serve his mind with my best will; / Whilst I have gold, I'll be
his steward still " (IV. ii. 49-50) . Flavius possesses an abund-
ance of spiritual gold, friendship. And when he encounters
Timon in the woods, even Timon is persuaded of his sincerity.
Flavius is for Timon the exception that proves the rule, for
Timon in his state of disillusionment views all men as base
metal. Timon says: "... I do proclaim /One honest man-
mistake me not - but one; /No more, I pray, - and he's a
steward. / How fain would I have hated all mankind! / And
thou redeem'st thyself: but all, save thee, / 1 fell with curses "

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370 David M. Bergeron
(IV. iii. 503-508) . Flavius protests that he is s
concern for Timon: "That which I show, heav
merely love. / Duty and zeal to your unmatch
(11. 522-3) . A time of testing but makes the go
spirit shine brighter than usual. Almost he pers
to view life differently.
Alcibíades is banished from Athens by the S
defense in behalf of a friend. He senses keenly t
the act: "... I have kept back their foes, / Wh
told their money and let out / Their coin upon
I myself / Rich only in large hurts " (III. v.
pledges to return and whip the hypocrisy of At
meantime he pays a visit to Timon in the woods a
gold, feeling that this would meet Timon's ne
Timon has already uncovered gold but has not
golden faith in man. By the end of the play
triumphant against the city of Athens; he works
tion: " Till now you have gone on and fill'd the t
licentious measure, making your wills / The sco
. . ." (V. iv. 2-4) . He wants to change the base me
into something higher and nobler by establishin
principle of justice and order: " And I will use t
my sword, / Make war breed peace, make peace s
(V. iv. 82-3) . Making war into peace is, I wou
alchemical transformation of the highest magnit
But the priceless examples of Flavius and Alcib
enough to redeem the world of Timon of Ath
at best suggest the completion of the alchemi
changing the metal into gold once again. Afte
is a tragedy, and we should not expect a complet
ciliation until we reach Shakespeare's final roma
affords us then an adequate principle for seeing
of the play both in terms of the pursuit of mate
the quest for spiritual gold. Alchemy lowers t
in the play by which we can measure the spirit
Timon.
Perhaps alchemy metaphorically construed is not just rele-
vant to Timon but is also pertinent to the efforts to distinguish
tragedy from comedy. An earlier play and a comedy, The
Merchant of Venice, which is also very much preoccupied with

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 Alchemy and " Timon of Athens " 371
the problem of gold, might make for an instructive comparison
with Timon.
There are two golden worlds in The Merchant of Venice, one
at Venice and the other at Belmont, and they are at war with
one another. Venice is concerned with material gold, and Shy-
lock's voice is heard above all the others as he cries out for his
ducats. But the crass, materialistic world of Venice is counter-
ed by the world of spiritual gold at Belmont, a place of beauty
and love where the sounds are the dulcet melodies of lyric
poetry. It is very much the business of the play to offer to
Venice a vision of the ideal world, the truly golden world, and
to seek to transform Venice into something nobler; in a word,
to transmute the baseness of that city into spiritual gold
through alchemy - i. e., the redeeming quality of comedy.
Bassanio wins Portia because he chooses the base, lead
casket and thus is not misled by the false appearance of
material, " gaudy gold." His speech on the effects of gold
(III. ii. 80 f) is quite comparable to several of Timon's
speeches on the power of gold. The lead casket, however, is
parlayed into a type of gold because it provides Portia, the
golden beauty of Belmont. This is doubtless the reason that
Gratiano can say of his and Bassanio 's success: " We are the
Jasons, we have won the fleece " (III. ii. 244) . Spiritual gold
also comes to Bassanio because he is willing to "give and
hazard all he hath" - the play's definition of love. Giving
and hazarding are part of the alchemist's art; transformation
comes only through commitment as the examples of Antonio,
Bassanio, and Portia so clearly demonstrate.
The moment of the greatest display of the transforming
power of the spiritual alchemy of the play is in the trial scene,
Act IV, scene i, when the alchemist from Belmont, Portia,
comes to plead for mercy, that quality which aids in trans-
muting base into noble. If Shylock's attitude is not completely
changed, his spirit is broken, and he confesses, " I am content,"
and thus the offices of the alchemist are efficacious. Shylock,
the stumbling block to the comic resolution of the play, must
be removed even if he is not completely redeemed. But since
justice has been done, we may conclude that Venice is a
better, even nobler, place than it was. And because the com-
munity has come through the trial and been refined, purified,

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 372 David M. Bergeron
Shakespeare may transport us once again in
golden world of Belmont where we hear Antonio
transforming power at work in the play when he
" Sweet lady, you have given me life and living .
The comic movement which results in an altered and recon-
ciled society is metaphorically parallel to the alchemist who
can lead us through peril and hazard until we come into the
presence of pure gold. Such is lacking in Timon.
Professor Northrop Frye has outlined in a very valuable
essay five different structures of comedy, the fourth of which
is the " green world " movement of comedy: " Thus the action
of the comedy begins in a world represented as a normal world,
moves into the green world, goes into a metamorphosis there
in which the comic resolution is achieved, and returns to the
normal world."4 This outlines the rather typical pattern of
Shakespearean romantic comedy.
Timon is, I would suggest, a " green world " tragedy. It
would be useful to compare it with A Midsummer Night's
Dream. We begin in Athens where the foolish notions of re-
strictive parents hold sway; thus the lovers retreat to the
forest outside Athens where they are ultimately, through the
various ministrations of the supernatural, paired off correctly.
They finally return to Athens for the wedding, the comic re-
solution having been achieved in the green world. Interest-
ingly, Timon also takes place in Athens. And there are some
foolish things going on, mainly Timon's excessive liberality.
But the actions in Athens are worse than merely foolish; they
are hypocritical. Thus in disillusionment Timon is self-exiled
into the woods outside Athens where no redeeming (i.e.,
comic) resolution takes place. Neither man nor nature trans-
form Timon. He dies cursing gold, nature, and dissembling
mankind. Both plays are set in Athens; they follow similar
structural patters, but there is an obvious difference between
them - it is the difference between comedy and tragedy.
One of the primary purposes of alchemy, ideally considered,
is the acquistion of knowledge. The same may be said for
comedy and tragedy. Both are concerned with some sort of
transformation in the lives of the characters. Comedy may be

4 Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton, 1957), p. 182.

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 Alchemy and " Timon oj Athens " 873
regarded as a type of pure spiritual alchemy, for it represents
typically an upward movement into a new and better society.
Tragedy shows the noble life being debased, an inversion or
incompleteness of the alchemical process. The knowledge
which comes to Timon gives rise to his despair, and there is no
elixir in the play which can transmute this pessimism into
something finer and nobler. Instead the enlightenment which
Timon gains is eternally destructive for him. The comic figure,
on the other hand, is enlightened without being destroyed.
My argument for viewing the play Timon in its relationship to
alchemy is an attempt to define an aspect of the play's tragic
vision. In the figurative use of the term alchemy we may take
the measure of most of Shakespeare's plays.

Louisiana State University in New Orleans

New Orleans , Louisiana

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