Character Analysis
Apemantus is a philosopher, but really all he does is sit around pointing out how grumpy everything makes him. He hates banquets, lords, friends, parties, gifts, flattery, Timon, and, well, just about everything else. We're not kidding: this dude is described as "churlish," which is just a fancypants way of saying that he's rude and crass. It seems that no matter where he goes, discontent follows.
Haters Gonna Hate
You don't have to look far to find out how Apemantus got his reputation for being unhappy. In the very first scene, he rains on Timon's parade: when Timon asks him if he likes the poems and jewels he just bought, Apemantus has a bag full of quips to infuriate Timon. Apemantus claims he never flatters, instead he'll just "hate a lord with my heart" (1.1.232).
Well, that's sound advice. It's not just that Apemantus hates some lords; he goes as far as to say: "I wonder men dare trust themselves with men" (1.2.42). We're pretty sure he means that he doesn't trust anybody, ever—and he's not afraid to tell people all about it, either. He wants people to know how much he dislikes them.
On top of that, Apemantus doesn't ever want to owe anyone anything. When he goes to Timon's house for the banquet, he refuses to take part in the game everyone else is playing. Other lords might be there to take as much as they can from Timon, but Apemantus holds fast to his rule about never being bribed. He claims: "No, I'll nothing. For if I should be bribed too, there would be none left to rail upon thee" (1.2.243-244).
All he takes is what he needs. Apemantus doesn't overindulge himself at the banquet; in fact, he claims Timon's fancy meats will make him sick. By only taking what he needs, Apemantus certainly sticks out in a room full of greedy gluttons: he shows us just how much the others are flattering Timon in order to take more from him.
Truth Be Told
If Apemantus's favorite hobby is being grumpy, then his second favorite is dropping bombs on people. No, not literally: he drops figurative bombs all throughout the play, telling us what's really happening all around him. He can plainly see "a number of men eat Timon, and he sees 'em not!" (1.2.38-39). We love the way he uses "eat" to mean both gobbling up Timon's food at the banquet and eating him away, little by little. Sounds like it would hurt.
In fact, it's mostly through Apemantus that we learn about how nasty so many of the characters in this play are. Since so many characters here are posers, Apemantus provides a good factual—if gloomy—account of what's going on. Too bad no one listens to him.
Misery Loves Company
We're totally on board with not pretending to be friends with someone, but we're not so sure the best reason to do that is so that you can keep on hating people. Apemantus claims that's his real end game... but it turns out misery does love company.
Why does Apemantus even go to Timon's party in the first place? Sure, he wants to observe people. It's like watching a train wreck: you can't look away. But he could just as easily watch people in the town square or somewhere else. As much as he loves to ridicule Timon, we think he actually likes being there. It gives him an audience. Apemantus loves to complain, and he wants people to know just how grumpy he is.
What better place to do it than at Timon's, where everyone is at their fakest? There are more phonies there than at Holden Caulfield's prep school.
So when Apemantus hears that Timon is in the woods and has gone all moody, Apemantus has just got to go check it out. What's surprising is Apemantus's reaction when he finds all this out: he likes Timon now that Timon hates him. Wait, what? That's right. He tells Timon, "I love thee better now than e'er I did" (4.3.234).
Apemantus hates how foolish and friendly Timon is in the beginning of the play; he'd rather hang with this new Timon, who is irritable, too. Sadly, Timon doesn't reciprocate. But this little encounter tells us that Apemantus does want friends. He just doesn't want fake friends.
Timon might ridicule Apemantus in the woods, but we learn a lot about both of them through this experience. Apemantus is a foil, or contrast, to Timon. The two guys start out on opposite ends of the happiness spectrum, but they end up right in the same place. Timon hates that idea, but it's true. In the end, both guys hate everyone else (even each other).
But wait... these dudes are both complaining about how everyone everywhere is lame and fake and phony and all that, but if there are two of them saying it, then it turns out that not everyone is so bad, right? Why can't these guys see that and change their views a little? Are they just that invested in seeing nastiness everywhere?
Timeline