Fifth Business
Robertson davies, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.
Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Robertson Davies's Fifth Business . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
Fifth Business: Introduction
Fifth business: plot summary, fifth business: detailed summary & analysis, fifth business: themes, fifth business: quotes, fifth business: characters, fifth business: symbols, fifth business: theme wheel, brief biography of robertson davies.
Historical Context of Fifth Business
Other books related to fifth business.
- Full Title: Fifth Business
- When Written: 1969-1970
- Where Written: Canada
- When Published: 1970
- Literary Period: Postwar literature
- Genre: Conceptual / speculative fiction, historical fiction, postwar literature.
- Setting: Deptford Canada, Europe, South America.
- Climax: Dunstan finally confronts Boy about his role in the Dempster’s tragic lives. Boy astonishes him by revealing he doesn’t even remember the Dempster’s existence.
- Antagonist: Percy (Boy) Staunton
- Point of View: First person (Dunstan Ramsay)
Extra Credit for Fifth Business
That’s Not All. Fifth Business is only the first and most famous installment of The Deptford Trilogy. All of the books focus on the effects of the same single event: a snowball striking Mary Dempster in the head.
Fifth Business
By robertson davies, fifth business themes.
Psychology is one of the novel's main themes, especially in terms of its mystical component. Robertson Davies had a keen interest in psychology, and was an avid student of Carl Jung. As a result, Davies weaves many Jungian concepts and archetypes into Fifth Business , all of which help to understand the work.
Dunstan reflects the introverted confidant archetype. He is essentially what Liesl calls "Fifth Business," a man of quiet support to others but living only half a life himself. In contrast, Davies gives us the extroverted Boy Staunton. Boy is brash and sensual, living a life of excess but with a one-dimensional understanding of his own motivations. Mrs. Dempster represents the archetype of the ‘sacred feminine,' representing both the sacred and the profane (sexual). This explains why Dunstan struggles with her presence throughout his life. These are only three examples.
Ultimately, Dunstan tries to understand himself through other people, and their own archetypal personalities.
Mythic Transformation
Much of Fifth Business is concerned with mythic transformation; all of the major characters undergo a significant change. Dr. Joseph Campbell refers to this phenomenon as the “heroic transformation of consciousness” (Campbell 38).
Percy is transformed from a spoiled boy into an industrial God-king; Paul Dempster is transformed into Magnus Eisengrim ; and Dunstan is transformed from “Fifth Business” into a man who embraces the shadows of his soul. Frequently, Davies uses name changes to reflect these transformations. ( Dunstable becomes Dunstan, Percy becomes Boy, and Paul becomes Magnus.)
And yet the novel also suggests that these transformations offer new potentials in our character while still reflecting the people we were. Each of the major characters reinvents himself, but remains tied to the same childhood fears and resentments that they work so hard to transcend.
It does not take long for the reader to discover this book touches the borders of magic realism. However, one really unique aspect is that the magic is tied in with Catholicism, since Dunstan bases his worldview largely around the belief that Mrs. Dempster is a saint, rather than simply a hapless victim of a wayward snowball. Perhaps to assuage his guilt, he sees her as a heroic woman capable of great power, and thereby develops a life-long obsession with hagiography.
And yet the idea of sainthood eventually transcends its Catholic roots to have much more individual basis. Padre Blazon explains the idea of the "fool saint" as follows:
"You believe in them, and your belief has coloured your life with beauty and goodness; too much scientizing will not help you. It seems far more important to me that her life was lived heroically; she endured a hard fate, did the best she could, and kept it up until at last her madness was too powerful for her" (179).
In other words, sainthood reflects less the decision of the Church and more the individual's need for heroes. What matters about Mrs. Dempster is what she went through and how it affects Dunstan. One part of Dunstan's arc is learning to embrace his desires as valuable even without outside justification, since we each of us need our own saints.
Dunstan harbors a lot of guilt throughout his life. He feels guilty for the premature birth of Paul Dempster, he feels guilty for his role in Leola 's early demise, and he most of all feels guilty about his responsibility for Mary Dempster's condition. Much of his life and personality as "Fifth Business" is a reflection of his guilt, his deep-seeded belief that he is not worthy of attention. To a certain extent, his entire arc is about learning to live with those feelings.
Dunstan is not the only character whose relationship to guilt is important. Percy is largely defined by his absence of guilt once he transforms into Boy; he does not even recall the incident with Mrs. Dempster at the end of the novel. Even Paul Dempster expresses his guilt at the end; though he claims not to care about his mother, his actions after learning about the rock in the snowball suggest otherwise. Ultimately, the novel suggests that we are defined not only by decisions we made in the past, but also by the way we later deal with our feelings about those decisions.
Morality is one of the novel's most extensive themes, especially in terms of Christianity. Dunstan is raised with such a strict sense of morality that he spends his life working to create his own, unique system.
This theme is important from the time of Dunstan's childhood. Deptford is a small town with five churches. Each congregation keeps to itself, consequently fracturing the town along sectarian lines. And yet they come together when the opportunity for judgment and sanctimony presents itself, most notably in the case of Mrs. Dempster. The way that these ostensibly religious people turn on a helpless woman disgusts Dunstan, who later works to develop his own sense of atheist morality as a result.
In fact, his sense of morality is largely shaped by the very qualities in Mrs. Dempster that repel the others in Deptford. Her public displays of affection - both nurturing and carnal - and her simple goodness become benchmarks of true morality for him. Ultimately, he spends his life seeking a complicated, mythic sense of morality, in spite of the suffocating, one-dimensional religious morality of Deptford.
Small Town Life
It is telling that Fifth Business is the first in Davies's Deptford Trilogy , since it reveals how important Deptford is to defining both Dunstan and the other main characters. Deptford, which is not terribly different from other 20th century Ontario small towns, seems like a quaint hamlet but also contains an ironic viciousness in its sanctimonious small-mindedness. Overall, Davies criticizes through Dunstan the sinister quality of a rigid morality system that imposes vice-like conformity upon its citizens. Any deviation from the 'normal' means exclusion and ostracization. In the world of the novel, characters are unable to truly escape these qualities that were seared into their childhood. Dunstan, Boy and Paul all carry memories of Deptford, and are defined by the way they either exorcise or unintentionally echo its patterns in their own lives.
Many of the figures in Fifth Business live lives of isolation. For some, that isolation is self-imposed. Out of an unconscious fear, Dunstan becomes complacent in his role as “Fifth Business” to Boy Staunton and anybody else who uses him as a confidant. Percy (Boy) Staunton grows complacent in his own one-dimensional view of the world, losing his soul in exchange for money and power. Paul Dempster ignores the feelings he has for his mother, which causes them to explode in a violent way at the end. And yet other characters are physically isolated. Mrs. Dempster is the best example, as a woman whom the world forgets. Overall, the novel suggests that we tend to isolate ourselves from one another, leaving us feeling separated rather than aware of the strong mythical connections that exist between all of us as humans.
Fifth Business Questions and Answers
The Question and Answer section for Fifth Business is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
Hi Aslan, I understand your point however I have an essay prompt that says: compare and contrast mary dempster, paul dempster, and dunstan ramsay as "wonder workers".
Paul Dempster is a magician. His "wonder work" isn't metaphysical so much as psychological. He is able to manipulate and even hypnotise. The snowball rock in Percy's mouth or the Brazen Head illusion at the end of the book is proof of this. In...
Who gives Paul the name Magnus Eisengrim, or does he rename himself? Also how does this name change represent his rebirth?
I believe Paul names himself this. Paul takes what Dunstan teaches him (magic) and later re-invents himself, first as a carnival performer and then as world-famous magician Magnus Eisengrim. Like Dunstan and Percy, Paul becomes a new person, and...
How does Dunstan perform wonders?
I don't think Dunstan himself has performed miracles. He wants to prove that Mary Dempster has performed miracles.
Study Guide for Fifth Business
Fifth Business study guide contains a biography of Robertson Davies, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
- About Fifth Business
- Fifth Business Summary
- Character List
Essays for Fifth Business
Fifth Business essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Fifth Business by Robertson Davies.
- Percy “Boy” Staunton: The Greater Life
- An Examination of Guilt: The "Poison" of Hamlet and Fifth Business
- Complexity Between Dunny and Mrs. Dempster
- Guilt Driven Action: Dunstan's and Cobb's Tricky Choices
- The Truth of Two Truths: Narrative Discontinuity in Fifth Business
Wikipedia Entries for Fifth Business
- Introduction
- Plot summary
- Principal characters
- study guides
- lesson plans
- homework help
Fifth Business Essay Topics & Writing Assignments
Essay Topic 1
Using examples from the book, what misperceptions did the villagers of Deptford have about Mrs. Dempster that caused them to label her a fool? What ideas and actions did the villagers value that Mrs. Dempster appeared not to value? Why did Mrs. Dempster hold different values?
Essay Topic 2
In Chapter 1, Percy Staunton is referred to as the narrator's "lifelong friend and enemy." Using examples from the book, which would you say Percy was to the narrator - a friend or an enemy?
Essay Topic 3
Deptford is a small village. It has been shown to have both a good and a bad side. Using examples from the book, please explain whether you believe Deptford is a village of good or bad morals based on how the villagers treated people from their village, and from other places.
Essay Topic 4
The title of the book is "Fifth Business." What...
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Essay Samples on Fifth Business
The progression of personal development in fifth business.
Experiences refer to the nature of events that someone goes through in their life, which can either have a positive or negative effect. Throughout the novel Fifth Business, the protagonist, Dunstan Ramsay goes through many experiences which help make him be the person he is...
- Childhood Lessons
- Fifth Business
- Parent-Child Relationship
Character Transformation of Dunstan Ramsay in Fifth Business
Experiences are something that can change a person's life for the better or for the worse. In the novel Fifth Business, written by Robertson Davies, the main character Dunstan Ramsay encounters many experiences that shape him into the person the reader knows by the end...
- Personal Growth and Development
The Role of Women in the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Dorothy L. Sayers states “Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or a great wife standing behind him.” The role of women in Robertson Davies Fifth Business are fundamental and essential to the character development and spiritual meaning that the...
- Family Relationships
Theme of Religion in Robertson Davies’ Novel Fifth Business
Religion plays an important role in Robertson Davies’ novel Fifth Business. There are many religious characters portrayed of a variety of faiths and denominations who are all very different but critical to the novel. The three most significant religious leaders are Amasa Dempster, Reverend Leadbeater...
Best topics on Fifth Business
1. The Progression of Personal Development in Fifth Business
2. Character Transformation of Dunstan Ramsay in Fifth Business
3. The Role of Women in the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
4. Theme of Religion in Robertson Davies’ Novel Fifth Business
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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Fifth Business — Illusion Versus Reality In The Fifth Business
Illusion Versus Reality in The Fifth Business
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Published: Aug 6, 2021
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The Fifth Business The fifth business is a novel written by Canadian writer Robertson Davies. It is about the struggles and successes of a family business. While the novel is mostly about the struggles of the women who work in the company, the story can apply to any kind of business....
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