Fifth Business
In the novel "Fifth Business", Robertson Davies successfully relates all themes of guilt, loyalty, and duty to the lives of Dunstan Ramsey, Paul Dempster, and Percy Boyd Staunton. He achieves this by showing how the characters react in different situations, and by their relationships with others in the story. Each one of them feel guilt for specific events which occurred in their lives, a certain loyalty towards something, whether it be religion, a person or interest, or a duty they feel responsible for. Dunstan and Paul are certainly plagued by guilt throughout the story, and arguably Percy. Dunstan is very much affected by the incident with the snowball, causing
" Because Paul was old enough to analyze the situation, he came to a conclusion that because of his premature birth, his mother became crazy. Dunstan was raised very religiously, and his mother taught him to feel guilt about the smallest lapse of duty, therefore dedicating himself to help Mary financially and personally throughout her life. Their fascination with religion, magic, spirituality, and materialism all gave them the unique qualities that formed their characters throughout the novel. Dunstan feels uncontrollable amounts of guilt and even loses sleep, the urge to eat, and even thinking that he is "of the damned". When Dunstan later confronts Percy to try and get him to confess the fact that he was involved, Percy simply tell him, "I threw a snowball at you, and I guess it gave you a good smack". The residents of Deptford were not very helpful and contributed to Paul's feelings of guilt, claiming that "the dislike so many people felt for his mother, dislike for the queer and persistently unfortunate, they attached to the unoffending son. The three men in this book were all very different in character, and all dealt with their lives in different ways. Most men experienced the feeling of guilt and how it can destruct, loyalty and the commitment they had to one person, such as Dunny to Mary, and the duty that each one of them felt they had to deliver, like going to war. Paul Dempster is also overwhelmed with guilt, blaming himself for his mother's simple-mindedness and strange behaviour. Percy was obviously a man that was more preoccupied with his own materialistic wants, rather than take time to think about the effect his foolishness had on others. Percy on the other hand, did not show any signs of taking responsibility for what happened on the winter evening birth of Paul Dempster and refused to even talk about the events that occurred on that night, for Percy "forgets" things that he would rather not discuss. the premature birth of Paul, to Mary Dempster.
Common topics in this essay:
Paul Dempster,
Dempster Dunstan,
Boyd Staunton,
Dunny Mary,
Robertson Davies,
Percy Dunstan,
Dunstan Paul,
paul dempster,
,
birth paul,
events occurred,
premature birth,
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Acceptance Essays
