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    Timon Ateenalainen
    Timon Ateenalainen
    Timon Ateenalainen
    Ebook177 pages1 hour

    Timon Ateenalainen

    By Paavo Emil Cajander and William Shakespeare

    3.5/5

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    LanguageSuomi
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1963
    Timon Ateenalainen

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    Reviews for Timon Ateenalainen

    3.5/5

    154 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I could see that I had arrived at the autumn of the Bard's career when I reached his collaborations with hacks.I would like to think that the parts of the play I didn't like were the work of the hack. I assume that he was responsible for the Alcibades scenes reading like some schoolboy was doing an adaptation of Coriolanus as an classroom assignment or the perfunctory setup of Timon's future woes or the dimwitted idea of having the hero die off-stage. By contrast, I credit the Bard with the stinging reproaches ("Uncover, dogs, and lap") and the magnificent rants (and the Bard can rant) and the unmasking of fraud and hypocrisy (take that, poet and painter). A bad play with great moments.P.S. I just realized what it really lacked - no strong women characters!?
    • 3/5
      I read this because it was heavily referenced in Pale Fire and I see the thematic link there regarding exile - I guess I should re-read Pale Fire again having read it but I never re-read anything. Anyway, it's actually pretty good. According to wikipedia it's one of the Shakespear plays that don't fit as cleanly in the comedy/tragedy division as the others - conventional wisdom is supposed to be that it's a tragedy, but personally I'd describe it as more of a black comedy. So of course I like it. I love the climax, where in one last grandiose gesture Timon lets Athens know who it can go fuck (itself), and how Apemantus's presence in the story finally builds to and culminates in a lengthy scene where he and the protagonist go at it full-bore line for line for multiple pages. Also, Alcibiades is in it! Although disappointingly he's apparently this stock-character Alcibiades originating in Plato instead of the lovable scampini I remember from Thucydides (seriously, it seems like a totally different guy).
    • 3/5
      Wealthy Athenian Timon spreads his wealth generously and hold parties. After giving all his wealth away, he discovers his so-called friends only cared about his wealth. He spends his remaining days in a cave. Shakespeare borrowed from other sources to create this work, and critics attribute portions to other authors. It's not among Shakespeare's best efforts.
    • 5/5
      3 stars for the play, 5 stars for the incredible, comprehensive academic study of it that runs through this 500-page volume.
    • 2/5
      Wow. Okay, that was just awful. Gives Edward III serious competition in the race to the bottom. It's like someone said to Shakespeare, “Bet you can't make a more unlikeable protagonist than Titus Andronicus,” and Shakespeare said, “Oh yeah? Here, hold my ale!”Timon has the good fortune to be born to wealth and position in Athens, and manages to blow through absolutely all of his money by endlessly playing the “Lord Bountiful,” ignoring the protests of his more sensible steward, glorying in the flattery and sycophantic sucking up of toadies. Where he might be sympathetic as an “excessively compassionate” sort if he gave away all his money to people in real need, Timon's generosity seems to be directed mostly at comfortably well-off friends. He hauls out his jewel chest at parties, ostentatiously handing out gems as party favors, and, remembering that a friend admired the horse he was riding recently, announces “'Tis yours, because you lik'd it.” He's maybe a step away from lighting his cigars with $100 bills. Until the funds are all gone. And, shocker, his buddies no longer care about him. Who, in the noble Timon's estimation, is to blame for his downfall? Himself, perhaps, and his own reckless irresponsibility? His friends, who enjoyed his largesse but don't want to help him when he's in trouble? Nope. ALL MANKIND. That's who's to blame. All the women, maidens, toddlers, infants, slaves, old men, etc. of Athens. ”Spare not the babe, whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust their mercy; think it a bastard, whom the oracle hath doubtfully pronounc'd the throat shall cut, and mince it sans remorse. Swear against objects, put armor on thine ears and on thine eyes, whose proof nor yells of mothers, maids, nor babes, nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding, shall pierce a jot.”There are a few amusing exchanges, and Timon's steward is a lovely, devoted fellow who does his level best, but his master is an idiot and a jerk. This is a relatively short play, but it sure felt like it went on forever.
    • 3/5
      Timon is a wealthy man who is happy to help his friends whenever they need him. He loans money without a second thought, helping one man marry the woman he loves and another pay off an outstanding debt. Soon the tables turn on Timon and he finds himself out of funds and in need of help. He soon discovers that fickle friends disappear when the coffers runs dry. He ends up exiled in the woods, disillusioned and angry.As is the case with many of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, this one shares themes and plot points with some of his more successful work. There are so many similarities with King Lear, the popular character becoming a friendless outcast, betrayal by those who are meant to be his truest supporters. Both plays also have one supporter who remains loyal to the title character: Cordelia (the daughter) in King Lear and Flavius (the steward) in Timon. Lear makes many of the same basic points in a more powerful way. There were also a few spots that reminded me of Coriolanus, including the banished character aiding an enemy force in attacking his former home. Timon of Athens feels a bit disjointed. The first half is cheerful and optimistic, but once he is deserted by his friends and living in the woods it takes on a much darker tone. Scholars have apparently attributed this to a joint authorship. I have no idea if that’s true, but with the flow of the story it certainly makes sense. BOTTOM LINE: Not one of my favorites, but another insight into Shakespeare’s development as a playwright. I love seeing him hone his skills in different works and seeing the many factors that affect whether that play will fail or succeed. I would love to see this one performed live. “The moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.”“Lips, let sour words go by and language end:What is amiss plague and infection mend!Graves only be men's works and death their gain!Sun, hide thy beams! Timon hath done his reign.” 
    • 3/5
      I normally wouldn’t read another Shakespeare play so soon after taking a class on the Bard, but this May I happened to be going to the Windy City while Ian McDiarmid was performing Timon of Athens with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, so I decided to read the play before going to see it. Because I read so quickly and uncritically, and because I saw the play so soon afterward, I’m having a difficult time separating text from performance in my mind, but I’ll try to do my best.Many have compared Timon to King Lear, and it’s not terribly surprising considering that many of the tropes in this play recur in King Lear: the self-centered protagonist, the proliferation of two-faced flatterers, the faithful servant, stirrings of civil war, various banishments and self-banishments. What I’ve often heard hinted at, but never stated outright, is this small truth: Timon is the poor man’s Lear. It is a decent play, not a great one. Current scholarship holds that Shakespeare collaborated on the play with Thomas Middleton, which makes sense because there’s quite a stylistic shift between the frenetic scenes in Timon’s Athenian home and his melancholy, elegiac asylum in the woods. I can say from experience that the first half plays better while the rest reads better, but the first three acts or so are more entertaining in either format. This is odd because I think I read somewhere that Middleton was probably responsible for the first two to three acts, after which Shakespeare continued in a less enjoyable fashion. I guess his heart wasn’t in it. Maybe he was just using the opportunity to warm up for King Lear.There is one truly great moment in the play: Act III scene 6, wherein Timon invites his false friends to yet another of his feasts, serves them only stones and hot water, then proceeds to chase them out. It’s thrilling both to read and behold (in the right production). The problem is that, after this and his great soliloquy in Act IV scene 1, Timon has nowhere to go as a character. He just continues hating humanity to the exact same degree, not developing in either direction. The ending is not quite as bleak as King Lear—there is a sense that society will continue lumbering on—but it is perhaps Shakespeare’s most cynical.The highly abridged two-act version that I saw at Chicago Shakespeare Theater is probably about the best this play can get. It was reset to the present day, something I don’t usually care for, but in this case it was incredibly effective. The cuts were nicely chosen, although I wish we had seen more of Flavius early on. And the acting was excellent. Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine for you Star Wars geeks) has incredible range and energy, not to mention a powerful voice, and it was a pleasure to view his craft at such close quarters, on a simple thrust stage. Sean Fortunato as Flavius matched him line for line. Alcibiades and Apemantus were among the weakest of the ensemble, regrettable since those are among the most important roles in the play. The last 20 minutes before the intermission, including Timon’s shunning of his friends and his leavetaking of Athens, made for theatrical magic; unfortunately, the director wasn’t able to do much with the scene's of Timon’s solitude, and I simply disliked the ending, which showed Flavius taking Timon’s place in society, with the flatterers and false friends flocking to him. Though it underlined the cynicism of the play, I thought it was out of character for Flavius to befriend the men who ruined his master, and whom he described as “monstrous.” I suppose he could only be pretending to befriend them, with the intent of avenging Timon, but I never thought him in any way vengeful, either.I don't think I’ll ever return to Timon of Athens, but I’m glad I read it, and even happier that I saw the CST production. A part of me still wishes McDiarmid had been playing Lear or Prospero instead, though, which indicates what I think of the play in relation to the rest of the canon.
    • 2/5
      Certainly not one of William Shakespeare's best works... I can understand why "Timon of Athens" is rarely staged. It is thought to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton -- which may be why the play feels really uneven -- as if different parts were written by different people and patched together later.The plot is fairly simplistic -- Timon, an Athenian lord is so anxious to spread his wealth around to his friends that he eventually runs out of money and has to sell all of his lands. He becomes bitter after hearing the variety of excuses his friends provide for not helping him out in his financial need. There is a subplot involving a march into Athens by a soldier, but it wasn't particularly well developed (or else I had difficulty following it, I'm not sure which was the case.)The action in the play is very slow and the plot is a bit too simplistic to keep things interesting. I'd recommend this one only to Shakespeare completists.
    • 3/5
      Stylistically and thematically Timon is like Lear only less so. In the first act Timon generously gives away money to everyone around him, but at the end of the act his steward Flavius lets us know that he’s not as rich as he seems. In the second act his bankruptcy goes public, and people begin to turn down his requests for money. He invites all his “friends” to a banquet of warm water in the third act. He goes into the wilderness, shedding clothes and raging at ingratitude like Lear, and his faithful steward follows, again like Lear. There are static encounters between Timon and various people—Athenian senators, bandits, and so on. Timon and Apemantus the misanthropic philosopher argue over which of them hates the world more and why. After Timon dies, his friend Alcibiades enters Athens (which he’d been besieging since the senators refused to pardon one of his soldiers) as the new leader.

    Book preview

    Timon Ateenalainen - Paavo Emil Cajander

    The Project Gutenberg EBook of Timon Ateenalainen, by William Shakespeare

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

    Title: Timon Ateenalainen

    Author: William Shakespeare

    Translator: Paavo Cajander

    Release Date: April 10, 2006 [EBook #18144]

    Language: Finnish

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TIMON ATEENALAINEN ***

    Produced by Tapio Riikonen

    TIMON ATEENALAINEN

    Kirj.

    William Shakespeare

    Paavo Cajanderin suomennos ilmestyi v. 1900.

    Näytelmän henkilöt:

    TIMON, ateenalainen ylimys.

    LUCIUS, |

    LUCULLUS, | Timonin imartelijoita.

    SEMPRONIUS, |

    VENTIDIUS, muuan Timonin valheystäviä.

    APEMANTUS, äreä filosofi.

    ALCIBIADES, ateenalainen sotapäällikkö.

    FLAVIUS, Timonin hovimestari.

    FLAMINIUS, |

    LUCILIUS, | Timonin palvelijoita.

    SERVILIUS, |

    CAPHIS, |

    PHILOTUS, |

    TITUS, | Timonin velkojain palvelijoita.

    LUCIUS, |

    HORTENSIUS, |

    Kaksi Varron palvelijaa.

    Isidorin palvelija.

    CUPIDO ja muita naamioita.

    Kolme muukalaista.

    Runoilija, maalari, kauppias ja helmiseppä.

    Vanha ateenalainen.

    Paashi.

    Narri.

    PHRYNIA, | Alcibiadeen rakastajattaria.

    TIMANDRA |

    Ylimyksiä, senaattoreja, sotamiehiä, varkaita ja seuralaisia.

    Tapahtumapaikka: Ateenan kaupunki ja läheinen metsä.

    ENSIMMÄINEN NÄYTÖS.

    Ensimmäinen kohtaus.

    Ateena. Sali Timonin talossa.

        (Runoilija, maalari, helmiseppä, kauppias ynnä muita

        tulee eri haaroilla.)

    RUNOILIJA.

    Hyvää päivää!

    MAALARI.

                  Hauskaa, että voitte hyvin.

    RUNOILIJA.

    En kaukaan nähnyt teitä. Mitä kuuluu?

    MAALARI.

    Tapaansa menee.

    RUNOILIJA.

                    Niin, niin, tiettävästi.

    Mut jotain erikoista? Jotain kummaa

    Ja ennen kuulumatonta? — Mut, nähkääs!

    Rikkauden taika, tenhos tänne loihti

    Nuo henget kaikki! Kauppiaan ma tunnen.

    MAALARI.

    Molemmat tunnen; helmiseppä toinen.

    KAUPPIAS.

    Oi, mikä kelpo herra!

    HELMISEPPÄ.

                          Niinpä kyllä.

    KAUPPIAS.

    Mies verraton ja niinkuin harjoitettu

    Hyvyyden juoksuun uupumattomaan:

    Hän voiton vie —

    HELMISEPPÄ.

                      Juveeli täss' on mulla.

    KAUPPIAS.

    Oi, näyttäkäähän! Timonille varmaan?

    HELMISEPPÄ.

    Jos maksamaan hän suostuu; vaan se seikka —

    RUNOILIJA.

    "Kun palkasta me halpuutt' ylistämme,

    Niin tahraantuu sen oivan runon loisto,

    Jonk' ylevyys on saapa."

    KAUPPIAS (katsellen helmeä).

                             Varsin soma!

    HELMISEPPÄ.

    Ja kallis! Näettenkö tuota vettä?

    MAALARI.

    Teit' innostuttaa varmaan joku teos,

    Jonk' omistatte hänen armollensa.

    RUNOILIJA.

    Niin, suustani kai pääsi jotain moista.

    Runous on kuin pihka, joka tihkuu

    Tuoreesta puusta. Piistä ei saa tulta,

    Jos sit' ei iske; meidän jalo liekki

    Itsestään syttyy ja, kuin virta, murtaa

    Kaikk' esteet tieltään. — Mitä teill' on tuossa?

    MAALARI.

    Vain maalaus. — Milloin tulee kirja ulos?

    RUNOILIJA.

    Suorastaan tarjouksen kantapäillä. —

    Ah, näyttäkäähän tuota!

    MAALARI.

                            Kaunis taulu.

    RUNOILIJA.

    Niin on; tuo tuoss' on vallan verratonta.

    MAALARI.

    Jotenkin.

    RUNOILIJA.

              Oivaa! Mikä sulon ilme

    Tuoss' asennossa! Mitä sielun voimaa

    Tuo silmä säihkyy! Mikä mielihaave

    Huulilla noilla! Sanoin ihan voisi

    Nuo mykät ruumiinliikkeet ilmituoda.

    MAALARI.

    Niin, elämää on hiukan jäljitelty.

    Tuo ilme — onko hyvä?

    RUNOILIJA.

                          Toden totta,

    Se voittaa luonnon; taiteen mahti tässä

    Elävämp' on kuin itse elämässä.

    (Muutamia senaattoreja kulkee näyttämän poikki.)

    MAALARI.

    Oh, sillä herralla on ystäviä!

    RUNOILIJA.

    Ateenan senaattorit! — Miekkoiset!

    MAALARI.

    Kah, vielä lisää!

    RUNOILIJA.

    Sit' ystävien tulvaa, sitä virtaa! —

    Kyhäyksessä tässä kuvaan miestä,

    Jot' on tää mainen mailma täysin sylin

    Hyväillyt, halaillut. Vapaata juontan'

    Ei yksityisyys häiri, se vaan kiitää

    Avaraa vahamerta;[1] ilki-isku

    Ei pilkkuakaan suunnassani tahri,

    Jok' ylvää kotkan lentoaan vaan lentää,

    Jälkeensä jättämättä jälkeä.

    MAALARI.

    En ymmärrä.

    RUNOILIJA.

                Avaimen teille annan.

    Niin, nähkääs, kaikki säädyt, kaikki luonteet, —

    Niin hyvin liukkaat, taipuisat, kuin myöskin

    Vakavat, jäykät, — palvelustaan tuovat

    Näin Timonille. Miehen suuri rikkaus,

    Jalohon auliuteen yhtyneenä,

    Vetää ja häneen lemmen sitein kiintää

    Sydämmet kaikenlaiset, peilirakkaast'

    Imartajasta Apemantukseen,

    Jok' itsens' inhomista rakastaapi

    Ylitse kaiken; hänkin polveansa

    Hänelle notkistaa ja tyyten palaa,

    Timonin nyökkäyksest' autuaana.

    MAALARI.

    Näin heidän puhelevan keskenään.

    RUNOILIJA.

    Kuvailen, ett' on onnettaren istuin

    Sorea, suuri kunnas; kunnaan juurell'

    On kaikenlaista luonnetta ja kansaa,

    Mi tämän pallon parmaill' ahertaapi,

    Tilaansa parantaakseen; niiden keskeen,

    Jotk' ylös tuohon vallattareen katsoo,

    Timonin muotoisen ma miehen kuvaan,

    Jot' onnettaren elfenluinen käsi

    Luoksensa viittaa; tämä äkkilempi

    Äkisti kaikki kilpailijat muuttaa

    Orjiksi, käskyläiksi.

    MAALARI.

                          Niinkuin naulaan!

    Tuo kunnas, onnetar ja istuin, jonne

    Viittaillaan yhtä kansan joukosta,

    Jok' ylös onnen jyrkännettä kiipee

    Kumarapäin, — tuo meidän taiteen alaan

    Ois aivan omiaan.

    RUNOILIJA.

                      Ei, kuulkaahan:

    Nuo kaikki — äskeiset nuo kumppaninsa,

    Moni ylempikin häntä — jäljiss' oiti

    Hännystelevät, terveisillä käyvät,

    Valavat korvaan pyhää kuiskutusta,

    Siunaavat jalustintakin, ja ilmaa

    Imevät hänen suustaan.

    MAALARI.

                           Niin, ja sitten?

    RUNOILIJA.

    Kun onnetar, tuo häälyvä ja löyhä,

    Pois työntää suosikin, niin koko liuta,

    Jok' ylös vuoren huippuun käsin, polvin

    Jälestä junnas, antaa miehen luistaa,

    Hänt' yksikään ei sortumukseen seuraa.

    MAALARI.

    Tuo tavallista on. Voin esitellä

    Sen seitsemänkin tapamaalausta,

    Jotk' onnettaren äkkipuuskat kuvaa

    Sanoja selvemmin. Mut hyvä oisi,

    Jos Timon tietää sais, ett' ihmissilmä

    On ennen nähnyt moisen kuperkeikan.

        (Timon tulee seurueineen. Ventidiuksen palvelija on

        puheissa hänen kanssaan.)

    TIMON.

    Vangittu, niinkö?

    PALVELIJA.

                      Niin on, hyvä herra;

    Ja velkomus on viisi talenttia.

    Varat on heikot, velkamiehet tiukat.

    Hän pyytää teiltä puoltokirjaa niille,

    Jotk' ovat hänet vanginneet; on muuten

    Hukassa toivo.

    TIMON.

                   Jalo Ventidius!

    En ole niitä, jotka luotaan viskaa

    Hädässä ystävänsä. Hänet tunnen,

    Hän jalo mies on, avun ansaitseva,

    Ja saakin sen: lunastan hänet irti.

    PALVELIJA.

    Ijäti on hän kiitollinen teille.

    TIMON.

    Vie terveiseni: oiti lunnaat laitan,

    Kun vapaa on hän, pyydä hänet tänne. —

    Ei riitä se, ett' autat pystyyn heikon,

    Tukea myöskin kaipaa hän. — Hyvästi!

    PALVELIJA.

    Oloinen onni teidän armollenne!

        (Palvelija menee.)

        (Vanha ateenalainen tulee.)

    ATEENALAINEN.

    Kuulehan, herra!

    TIMON.

                     Puhu, hyvä vanhus.

    ATEENALAINEN.

    Lucilius on palvelija sulla.

    TIMON.

    Niin on, ja entä sitten?

    ATEENALAINEN.

                             Jalo Timon,

    Tykosi tänne kutsuta se mies.

    TIMON.

    Hän onko tässä saatossa? — Lucilius!

    (Lucilius tulee.)

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