Shakespeare as the master of both idea and language depicted universal themes in his plays which deal with the most profound world views, sentiments, and thoughts of human beings. His more sophisticated characters, sometimes major and sometimes minor, indicate depth and complexity of human mind, and stand for thoughts and opinions that in later philosophical texts were conceptualized as abstract epistemological or ontological discourses. In this paper, Timon of Athens, one of Shakespeare’s philosophical plays in which Timon rejects the world by turning to a misanthrope and cuts all his philanthropic love, donations, and banqueting, will be compared to Miranda’s love toward the world in The Tempest. Timon’s hostile renunciation of men and Miranda’s welcoming acceptance of civilization and people divulge two different philosophical world views Shakespeare makes concrete and humanizes in these plays.
