Character Analysis
Timon's Servants
Timon's got a whole gaggle servants who deliver messages, try to collect money, and serve food. While they're at it, they also offer us a running commentary on what's going down; we totally get the insider's perspective from them.
One servant, for example, calls Sempronius "a goodly villain" (3.3.28). Flaminius takes it a step further when he says: "[M]ay these add to the number that may scald thee! Let molten coin be thy damnation" (3.1.51-52). It's clear that the servants are shocked by the behavior of Timon's friends.
The servants, in some ways, become our gauge for what's right and wrong. The audience looks to the servants to figure out what we should make of what's happening. Since the servants don't have as much of a stake in the game, we trust them more.
We'd also like to point out that the servants are the only ones who care when Timon leaves Athens. One of them sums it up when he says: "We are fellows still, serving alike in sorrow" (4.2.18-19). We totally feel for the servants who are left without a home. Their concern, however, is for their master.
Too bad Timon's not thinking very much about them. He's more concerned with his popular friends.
Creditors' Servants
Some of the creditors' servants have names (Hortensius, Titus, and Caphis), and some are just called "Servant" (of Varro, Lucius, and Isidore)—but all of them add to the play. The creditors' servants represent the negative aspects of Timon's life. They are sent to collect his money, and they're told not to leave until they get it. Even their presence is sad to him.
But the creditors' servants, like Timon's servants, are actually fairly reasonable, kindhearted characters. As they exchange notes on how much they were sent to collect, they point out how unfair it is that they were even sent over to Timon's in the first place.
Titus, for example, notes that his master "wears jewels now of Timon's gift, for which I wait for money" (3.4.20-21). And Lucius's servant observes: "'Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon's purse" (3.4.15). Basically, Lucius owes so much to Timon that he can't possibly repay it. Hortensius chimes in to say: "It is against my heart" that they wait for Timon's money (3.4.22).
Even the servants of these creditors can see that what these people are doing to Timon is wrong. Just like Timon's servants, these guys fill us in on what's happening around them; they become like a moral compass. So what is Shakespeare saying by making the servants more honorable and kind than the masters? Let's chew on that.
If there's one thing different about the servants and their masters, it's that the masters have money, and the servants don't. So does money inevitably corrupt people? Possibly not inevitably, since we see that Alcibiades is a pretty decent dude—but it certainly doesn't seem to help.
Having a lot of money means that you live with a lot of other people who have money, and that kind of society seems to be one that's focused more on flash than substance: it's all about status and appearances. Because the servants are outside of all this, they're able to see through the rich guys' bad behavior.