Commodified Communion: The Shatter Of Societal Charisma In Timon Of Athens

Abstract

Societal Charisma is taken very seriously as something without which one cannot survive. Excessive expectation from society and aiding it with monetary sources does not always necessitate the ideal condition of being reciprocated in the same way. More often such a cold sycophantic outlook tempts the affected individuals to develop a rebellious cynical attitude against society in general. They seize to believe in it and abandon the idea of contributing to it. For them, such uptake is another extreme of virtue. I utilized Diogenean philosophy of Cynicism as a theoretical pulpit to address such contention in the light of Timon of Athens. I also applied Melvin Seeman’s Five Variants of Alienation as a supportive framework to substantiate Timon’s estrangement from society as another extreme of virtue from his former philanthropy. The research method used in the study is qualitative and hence, content analysis is used to interpret the text.