Mitarai Digital Folio

Timon of Athens, Act 4 Scene 1

40Lines 1Speakers

Timon of Athens, Act 4 Scene 1 runs 40 lines of dialogue, spoken by 1 speakers. That is shorter than the play’s average scene length of about 144 lines. This scene is part of Act 4 of Timon of Athens.


Full Dialogue
Timon
Let me look back upon thee. O thou wall,
That girdlest in those wolves, dive in the earth,
And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent!
Obedience fail in children! slaves and fools,
Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench,
And minister in their steads! to general filths
Convert o' the instant, green virginity,
Do 't in your parents' eyes! bankrupts, hold fast;
Rather than render back, out with your knives,
And cut your trusters' throats! bound servants, steal!
Large-handed robbers your grave masters are,
And pill by law. Maid, to thy master's bed;
Thy mistress is o' the brothel! Son of sixteen,
pluck the lined crutch from thy old limping sire,
With it beat out his brains! Piety, and fear,
Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth,
Domestic awe, night-rest, and neighbourhood,
Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades,
Degrees, observances, customs, and laws,
Decline to your confounding contraries,
And let confusion live! Plagues, incident to men,
Your potent and infectious fevers heap
On Athens, ripe for stroke! Thou cold sciatica,
Cripple our senators, that their limbs may halt
As lamely as their manners. Lust and liberty
Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth,
That 'gainst the stream of virtue they may strive,
And drown themselves in riot! Itches, blains,
Sow all the Athenian bosoms; and their crop
Be general leprosy! Breath infect breath,
at their society, as their friendship, may
merely poison! Nothing I'll bear from thee,
But nakedness, thou detestable town!
Take thou that too, with multiplying bans!
Timon will to the woods; where he shall find
The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.
The gods confound–hear me, you good gods all–
The Athenians both within and out that wall!
And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow
To the whole race of mankind, high and low! Amen.
40 lines rendered verbatim from the dialogue corpus.

Who’s On Stage

Speaking characters in this scene

Character Lines Share
Timon 40 100.0%

Line distribution

The top speaker in this scene delivers 40 lines, while the scene’s average per speaker is about 40 lines.

Total speakers on stage

1 named characters speak in this scene.

Scene in Context

Position within Act 4

This is Scene 1 of 3 in Act 4 of Timon of Athens.

Scene length vs. play average

At 40 lines, this scene is shorter than the Timon of Athens average scene in Timon of Athens (~144 lines).

Adjacent scenes

Previous: Act 3 Scene 6 · Next: Act 4 Scene 2