Conspicuous Consumption, Croyance, and the Problem of the Two Timons: Shakespeare and Middleton's Timon of Athens. Issue 3 (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kronshage, Eike
• Is Part Of: Critical horizons. Volume 18:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 262
• Page End: 274
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: Shakespeare -- Middleton -- conspicuous consumption -- Thorstein Veblen -- Pierre Bourdieu -- Octave Mannoni -- croyance; Critical theory -- Periodicals; 142.05
• DOI: 10.1080/14409917.2017.1293892
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1440-9917

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The article investigates the astonishing volte-face that Timon performs in Shakespeare and Middleton's Timon of Athens . The main character is not, as is often claimed, unaware of what is going on around him, he is not simply the naïve victim of his avaricious guests, but rather complicit in his own delusions. My reading is informed by two different theoretical concepts: Thorstein Veblen's concept of "conspicuous consumption" on the one hand (supported by Pierre Bourdieu's theory of symbolic capital), and Octave Mannoni's concept of "croyance" (belief) on the other. By combining these two distinct theories, I want to account for the characteristics of both Timon's individual (psychological) and public (economic) behaviour, and its radical change between Acts 1–2 and Acts 3–5 of the play. I argue that in Timon of Athens, Shakespeare and Middleton explore the different forms of capital and its limited convertibility in the early modern mercantilist society.