Mythological Realism in Fifth Business
Spellbinding like his creation Magnus Eisengrim, Robertson Davies is a wizard of the English language. Who says that Canadian literature is bland and unappealing? New York Times applauded Fifth Business – the first of the Deptford triptych – as "a marvelously enigmatic novel, elegantly written and driven by irresistible narrative force." How true this is. Dunstable Ramsay – later renamed Dunstan after St. Dunstan – may be a retired schoolteacher, but what an engaging narrator he is! Shaped by Davies’s colourful writing, Ramsay masterfully relays the story of his role as "fifth business," the unobtrusive yet vital character in life’s drama.
Fifth Business, told in the form of a letter to the schoolmaster, begins with a snowball that young Percy Boyd Staunton throws at Ramsay. The stone-in-a-snowball misses Ramsay but hits Mary Dempster, causing the premature birth of Paul Dempster. Paul grows up to be Magnus Eisengrim, a mysterious and graceful magician. Tormented by his guilt of avoiding the snowball, Ramsay makes Mary his personal saint and is weighed down by his conscience until Mary’s eventual death in an asylum. On the eve of becoming the lieutenant governor of Ontario, "Boy" Staunton is found dead in the Toronto harbour with the fateful stone in his mouth.
Though the adventures that Dunstan embarks on in Fifth Business are that of the spiritual nature, make no mistake: this is not a occult novel that attempts to lure one into a religion, but a magnificently told tale of maturation. It is a story of revenge, of redemption, of becoming. Told from the perspective of being nearly completed, the novel follows Ramsay in his search for balance in his life – and balance he does find when the grotesque yet intelligent Liesl seduces him.
With depth and breadth of knowledge in Jungian concepts, Robertson Davies draws us fathoms beneath the surface of the human personality. The audience is not left grasping for breath, but is enraptured by the rich dualism in this fantastical world of Dunstan Ramsay. Good and evil; illusion and reality; history and myth – the shadows and lights of the world are exposed and explored.
These juxtaposing elements are never revealed under a glaring light, however. Davies uses prose that is nothing short of elegant, and weaves a mythical tale that is imbued with much realism. Real-life incidents are transfused with many amazing "coincidences," paving the path to surrealism.
Dunstan Ramsay is one of the main characters in the novel Fifth Business. The novel is based on his point of view. Dunstan is from an honorable family. Dunstan was disciplined by his mother who shaped Dunstan’s anima.
	Robertson Davies’ novel, Fifth Business, revolves around guilt, competition, and two men who are foils of each other. Although Dunstan Ramsay and Percy Boyd Staunton are parallels to each other, they contrast in a great number of ways. Their awkward relationship plays a significant role in the number of elements which make Fifth Business such an interesting story.
The novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies does away with the stigma that Canadian literature is dull and boring. A master of his art, Davies creates a cast of vivid characters and skillfully weaves them into a story about love, guilt, myth and redemption. With the effective use of first-person narrative, Fifth Business is written as a fictional memoir of the character Dunstable Ramsey, who grows up in the small town of Deptford in Ontario, Canada. As a boy, Dunstable was unmistakably very intelligent, gifted with an uncanny ability to read others. He was raised in a Scottish household by strict Presbyterian parents, who into him hammered several religious canons and tenets. Thus, Dunstan understood the importance of respect and moral responsibility from a young age. There would seem to be no reason for such an exemplary youth, gifted with an intelligence exceeding of his small-town upbringing, to not go onto to lead a happy, satisfying life. Yet there is a single incident in Dustan’s boyhood that would define the rest his life. While in a quarrel with his friend and rival, Percy Boyd Staunton, Dustan evades a snowball in which Boyd had hidden a stone. The snowball misses Dunstan and strikes the pregnant wife of the town’s Baptist minister, Mary Dempster, causing her to give birth prematurely and subsequently slip into madness. This marks the beginning of Dustan Ramsey’s lifelong involvement with Mary Dempster, and the beginning of his lifelong struggle with guilt. As he is faced with the outcomes of his actions, Dustan’s core values are called into question. Throughout Fifth Business, Dunstan fails to understand both his true values and true self, which develops as a cons...
novel, Dunstan’s public front that he portrays is the role of Fifth Business. He is characterized as such
Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is one of the many novels that can be analysed through a Jungian archetypal lens to show how the unconscious projection of archetypal images affects how a person views others people's actions and their behaviours. In this novel the narrator John Wheelwright projects different archetypes onto different people dependant on their role in his life. This shows us how the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is not objective because as a reader, you see all events and characters though John’s eyes. Everything that you read is tainted by the archetypal images John’s unconscious self which are being projected onto different characters and situations. This leads the reader to the question of how does one know that the story of Owen Meany is true, and that all the characters are portrayed truthfully.
Stallman presents an argument for free software that is supported with an abstracted view of the harm the
Thwarted love. Ambition. Guilt. Sexuality. Fifth Business is rife with these life lessons. However, the most dominant themes in the novel are ambition and motivation. It is well known that excessive ambition and motivation can destroy someone, but, used correctly, can skyrocket someone to happiness, as in the case of Dunstan Ramsey, Percy Staunton, and Paul Dempster. These two qualities not only give these characters the will to keep on living, but also enable them to rise above the masses during the Great Depression. Right in the beginning of the novel, Dunstan displays his superior motivation and ambition through his learning of juvenile magic.
of how John Steinbeck uses extraordinary circumstances to create appeal and realism to the reader.
Lipking, Lawrence I, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
The Classical mythology contains tales and epics of the ancient Greek and roman literatures and myths. On the other hand, Homer’s two epic poems, the Iliad relates to the events of the Trojan War while the Odyssey details Odysseus expedition after the war. Homer’s epic poems, the Odyssey and the Iliad present a major part of ancient history as modern fictional heroic stories. In ancient Greek, heroes were humans who were depicted to possess superhuman abilities. A key example in the classical mythology is Akhilles who is later known in Homer’s Iliad as Achilles. Achilles is he greatest hero of the Iliad whereas Odysseus is the greatest hero of the Odyssey. The greatest heroes from classic mythology and the modern fictional hero’s stories are mortal, and subject to death. The Odyssey and the Iliad marks the beginning of modern fictional literature.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition Volume1. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton and Company, Inc., 1993.
Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000.
Muehlberger, C. W. (1955). Colonel Clavin Hooker Goddard 1891-1955. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 46, No. 1.
Mrs. Ramsay provides her husband with support and sympathy. Mr. Ramsay comes to Mrs. Ramsay when he wants sympathy or “to be assured of his genius”. Mrs. Ramsay ha...
Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000.