How Guilt Reveals Characters’ Personalities in Fifth Business

Guilt was a major recurring theme in the book “Fifth Business” by Robertson Davies. Reaction of certain characters to conflicts in the novel shows that the morals and values taught in childhood can reveal one's true persona. Davies shown this theme at the start of the novel. The snowball that was initially for Dunstan misses and hits a pregnant Mary Dempster. One simple snowball accident causes a major chain reaction to change Dunstan into an isolated, serious and the complexity of a person. Percy Boyd simply ignores the guilt and move on. Because of his easy and wealthy lifestyle, he can solve anything with a bit of cash. He is your average everyday rich business man, handsome, wealthy and intelligent. It is similar to an invisible impenetrable barrier between him and the guilt due to his immense wealth verbally protecting him. Paul Dempster was always taught by his father to do whatever was right to patch things up. The aftermath is that as he grew up he blames himself for his mother's insanity. He has a slightly similar upbringing as Dunstan. He is also isolated and was an easy victim of bullying.

Nevertheless, Dunstan being taught by his mother to fear all sins and to fear God. After the snowball accident, it indirectly forces Dunstan to take care of Mrs. Dempster and her newborn child. He is made fun of by his fellow peers and classmates in his early childhood obtaining the name crippler for helping out Mrs.Dempster out of guilt. It gave him a hard time making friends and as a result Dunstan to become more of a lonely person. As the novel continues, people start opening up to him but he is still thinking about his past and turning people away. He is not the “leading character. He wants is the Fifth Business. A side character that helps and support but never leads. He isolates himself out of every event possible. When Leola asks Dunstan to sleep with him he refuses in fear of the situation escalating even further. At the beginning of the novel, Dunstan says “This is one of the cruelties of the theatre of life; we all think of ourselves as stars and rarely recognize it when we are indeed mere supporting characters.” and that is when he considers himself a supporting character. The snowball accident causes his whole life to flip around, and he will never try to lead ever again. He has this same exact mindset all throughout the novel.

On the other hand, Percy Boyd is from a rich family and is the person who hit Mrs.Dempster with a snowball. He is almost the exact opposite of Dunstan. Characters in the novel see him as an extrovert, handsome, and extremely wealthy politician. Since he was from a rich family, all the things he did when he was a child never was dealt with by his parents. Consequently he never indirectly cares about the deeds he commits when he was in his teens. In his adult age, he starts to manipulate and control every situation. She wants Leola to become the perfect wife in the political world but could not keep up with the constant pressure. As a result, Percy ends up neglecting her and his children. He took the leading role, unlike Dunstan who chose the supporting.

Paul Dempster is a character in the novel that no one wants around due to his mother's insanity. During his childhood he blames himself for his mother and his own misfortune. He never really knew what was happening in his life, he was optimistic and was easily putting his faith in other people. Because of the constant harassment from school and people from his carnival, he turns really reserved and secretive eventually running away from home. Later down his life, he makes himself into a new person while still holding onto his childhood feelings. When he reunites with Dunstan once again at Le Grand Cirque forain de St Vite after many years, Paul feels no guilt that he ran away from his mother and does not even want to tell her that he is safe. He tells Dunstan that he sees no point in telling her that “she is a part of the past that cannot be recovered or changed by anything I can do now”. This reveals that he forgot about his past guilt and is only focusing on the present. But that is not completely true, at the end of the novel Paul murders Percy Boyd in a way to avenge his mother.

In the novel, ones childhood experience could change the identity on how someone is seen. Dunstan Ramsay chose to become the Fifth Business; a person that is not a hero or heroine, good or evil but a person who stays at the sidelines improving the lives around him. Percy Boyd is the exact opposite. He is the person who is known throughout the world and to live his life to the fullest while ignoring his guilty actions. Paul Dempster is in a way similar to Dunston, he chose to live a new life and a new name where he is not criticize everywhere he went. Guilt is a strong theme that reveals many things and aspects of a character's life.