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Fifth Business
---Character Response---
‘Fifth Business’, a book by Robertson Davies, has been written as a memoir of
Dunstable Ramsay. Dunstable Ramsay, renamed to Dunstan, during the course of the
book, is the narrator of this story. He writes this memoir to the Headmaster of the school,
where he was the Assistant Head and Senior History Master before his retirement. But
the memoir is only to be opened after his death, not before that. This information about
the book certainly implies that the content of the book and the way in which the life of
Dunstan and others has been described can be biased to a very great extent.
Dunstan has been observed as a very sincere and stiff person. But the abnormality in
his character does not show up till someone else mentions it to him. This is not to say that
Dunstan hides what was not very normal about him but it shows that during his life there
were others, because of whom Dunstan got a chance to think about his life, his nature and
his personality as a whole. We get to know a lot about him right from the beginning of
the story but a very important instance in his life is when the readers of the story get to
know more about Dunstan in a very straightforward manner. This is when Diana tells
Dunstable to change his name and says, “Why don’t you change it to Dunstan? St.
Dunstan was a marvellous person and very much like you � mad about learning, terribly
stiff and stern and scowly, and an absolute wizard at withstanding temptation.”
(Robertson Davies. -). It clearly states for the readers, that Dunstan is a person who
seeks knowledge, which implies that he must be having deep insight into subjects he
seeks knowledge about, for instance, about saints and their lives. We also know that he
wrote several books on this subject. He is also someone who can easily express himself,
verbally and in writing. He is an expressive person with a great ability to form strong
opinions. This quote by Diana tells us that Dunstan is a stiff and stern person, a man with
proper principles and a person who follows rules at an age of about 0. Something here
can give the readers an indication of the kind of person Dunstan is going to change into
once he grows up. It foreshadows that a person who can have so much mental control at
such a small age, might grow up to be a very mentally-strong individual. He is very good
at withstanding temptation. But the most important fact that this quote reveals to us is that
Dunstan can control his emotions and behavior. At least on the surface, he appears to be a
very composed and strong individual. But the fact that he is still tender in age makes one
wonder what the reason behind his maturity might be. One can easily attribute this to his
days in the army. It must have instilled discipline in him.
Dunstan had always been passively influenced and molded by his life at Deptford, his
family and especially his mother. He has a want of becoming something he might not
have had a chance of becoming if he were to remain at Deptford all his life. But this does
not mean he can run away from what Deptford wanted to make of him. He is loyal to his
friends and people near him. He is secretive in matters concerning anybody. He does not
like to gossip or spread rumors, something that would totally defy what Deptford taught
him. Proper in conduct, he is determined to do what he wants and takes a fancy for. But
he never seems to take a liking to anything that is not expected of a self-righteous and
correct person. He is restrained, but very hard working in what he is supposed to do. Not
extremely ambitious, he is quite frugal in money matters but does seek progress in this
field. Luckily, Boy seems to help him to a very great deal as far his economic status is
concerned. He is a determined fellow who is modest. One of his most significant
character traits is that he is a very responsible person, being able to take upon his mind a
lot of stress due to this. After all, he does maintain that he was solely responsible for
Mary Dempster’s plight if nobody else was to take or share the responsibility.
But all this makes him too much of a proper and correct human being, almost saintly.
It makes him too good to be true. But there is a flaw here. Yes, he is abnormal, not quite
like the normal person. He takes life too seriously. He never lets his inner being come
out. Very restrained, he never shows any impropriety in conduct or behavior. And we
come to know about this when Liesl says to Dunstan, “Why don’t you shake hands with
your devil, Ramsay, and change this foolish life of yours? Why don’t you, just for once,
do something inexplicable, irrational, at the devil’s bidding, and just for the hell of it?
You would be a different man” (Robertson Davies. 6). It shows us that Dunstan always
kept his devil inside him and never let him appear on the surface. It is one of the things
one might not have easily understood, but Dunstan’s soul is pure. Liesl’s last name is the
demon’s name in the play ‘The Vision of Dr. Fautus’, where Faust was a magician who
sold his soul to the devil. Dunstan is nowhere near a magician, but definitely wanted to
become one at a point in time. it is important to remember a this point that it is in the very
presence of Liesl, that Dunstan, for the very first time notices a change in the way he was
behaving. Talking about matters that were supposed to be kept secret or talking loosely
was never his style. But what is there that one might not do in the presence of the ‘Devil’.
He is not in full control of himself and his behavior. Liesl than asks Dunstan, “Who are
you? Where do you fit into poetry and myth? Do you know who I think you are Ramsay?
I think you are Fifth Business” (Robertson Davies. 7). The real purpose of Dunstable
Ramsay in this story is of being a passive recorder of events and facts. His very nature,
the way he grew up and the kind of incidents that shaped his life account for his
motivation to become what he is today. The fact that he never took a liking to what his
hometown had to teach him made him passively rebel against the kind of life he would
have had to live. He becomes a different kind of person. His feeling of being responsible
for Mrs. Dempster’s situation causes him to be like the person he is to a very great extent.
He is a very inspired person and like it has been mentioned before, very considerate and
composed. There is a great deal that could still be said about his character on further
investigation. Dunstan himself is not aware of a lot of things about himself, especially
about his place in the whole story, even though to him it might seem he is.
Percy Boyd Staunton was introduced to us on the very first page of the book. He
remains there throughout, playing a very important part in the story. He has a specific
character of his own, at the same time; he is a personification of the world around him.
As we notice, he is a very materialistic person who lacks the value of spirit and is to a
very great extent quite the opposite of Dunstan. Dunstan introduces Boy to us as his
‘lifelong friend and enemy’, making Boy’s character a very interesting one. As a child,
we see, that Boy is a spoilt brat who is a bad loser and grows up to be a very ambitious
person. He is very successful and progressive person, but only in the field of money and
status. His strength is his sharp mind, which works very well when it comes to money
matters. But he lacks any real inner strength. He is the antagonist in this story and is a
part of various incidents, which lead to his downfall as a man with values and principles.
There are many incidents in the story which contribute towards telling the readers a lot
about Boy’s character, but one of the most important times is when Boy completely
denies his guilt of throwing the ill-fated snowball, which causes the story to take the route
it does. He acts in a very irresponsible manner throughout the play. The first time we see
what a cheap coward Boy is, is when Dunstan narrates to us, “We looked into each
other’s eyes and I knew that he was afraid, and I knew also that he would fight, lie, do
anything rather than admit what I knew. And I didn’t know what in the world I could do
about it” (Robertson Davies. ). He completely denies any responsibility of the bad
incident. He does not care what his friend would feel about the whole thing or how
Dunstan was to deal with it. He does not know how to deal with moral and mental
pressures in life. He is shallow of heart and lacks the depth of character. He does not
concern himself with anything that is of no use to him.
Not caring about people’s feelings is his style and we come to know about this on two
occasions. One is when Boy gives Dunstan film reels to be developed and later Dunstan
finds that the reels contained pictures of Leola in which she is stark naked. After this,
when Dunstan is at Boy’s place, Boy says, “Nice, nice, nice! Of course it isn’t nice! Only
fools worry about what’s nice. Now sit here by me, and Dunny on the other side, and be
proud of what a stunner you are” as a reply to Leo’s repeated pleading to not show the
photos in front of Dunstan (Robertson Davies. 157). It creates a feeling of hatred for Boy,
among the readers. Very inconsiderate, he treats his wife like garbage, some object
without feelings and insults her by being so rude to her in front of their old family friend.
The next time we get an insight into Boy’s character is when, at Christmas, Leo finds a
note in Boy’s clothes that tells her of what Boy has been up to with another woman,
committing adultery? And to this Percy Boyd Staunton says, “‘There’s no reason to carry
on like that…But if you think I intend to be tied down to this sort of thing’ � and he
gestured towards the drawing-room, which was, I must say, a dismal, toy-littered waste
of wealthy, frumpish domesticity � ‘you can think again.’” (Robertson Davies. 186). This
really crowns it all. He takes absolutely no responsibility of what just happened. He does
not think committing adultery is a crime, a moral one more than anything else, but the
fact that he does not even apologize for his wrong deed illustrates a lot about his
character. He says this to Leo in front of their children, scaring them for life. Lost
innocence can never be restored. He leaves his wife, the very person who would do
absolutely anything to be like the person Boy wanted to make her, howling and heart-
broken. Truly cruel and evil, Boy probably deserved what he got in the end.
All his life, Boy only looked for wealth and fame. Being the center of attraction and
dominating situations by any means was his life’s real motive. He wanted to surpass
everything and everybody in the materialistic world. His was the thought that money
could buy anything and was the only base of a life. For him too, Deptford might have
been something in the past, long forgotten and forbidden, but scarcely do people realize,
just how much, the forces that affected them as children, really drive them. Boy enjoyed
his life on the basis of the money and wealth he had amassed. Such achievements,
without the least trace of any humanitarian qualities; what a tragedy that is and this is
exactly the kind of person Boy was. A person with no honor, Boy is a hollow person,
with impure intentions he had lead his life and died, only to be forgotten as a regular rich
fellow.
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