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Dunstan Ramsay Fifth Business Quotes

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Dunstan Ramsay is Fifth Business The novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies is a fictional autobiography of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay. Dunstan outlines his life experiences and pays special attention to saints and religion, both of which interest him. Although the story is about Dunstan, he seems to have a supporting role in the lives of others. In this book, Dunstan Ramsay is referred to as:
Fifth Business because he is the one who knows the secret of the hero’s birth, or comes to the assistance of the heroine when she thinks all is lost, or keeps the hermitess in her cell, or may even be the cause of somebody’s death if that is part of the plot. (Davies, 227)

The Fifth Business is an important character in a story because they aid in completing a story. Dunstan Ramsay is successfully portrayed as “Fifth Business” through accepting his role as “the odd man out” while facilitating events in the lives of others (227). …show more content…

Boy Staunton and Dunstan Ramsay are the only characters who know the truth about Paul’s birth, which “is the cause of so much that [follows]” (13). As a young child, Boy throws a snowball at Dunstan that misses and hits Mary Dempster in the head, causing brain damage and the premature birth of Paul Dempster. This is the initial conflict of the novel, that casts Dunstan into the role of Fifth Business because he keeps his knowledge of the accident a secret for most of his life. Paul is considered the hero in Fifth Business because he is the product of this incident that causes the rest of the story to occur. Shortly after Paul’s birth, Dunstan approaches Boy about his

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