Fifth Business - Guilt

Reverend Dimmesdale was a renowned, prideful man stricken with sin and extreme guilt.  From the time Hester and Dimmesdale made love, he was grievous of his sin but he also felt a great love towards her.  Dimmesdale's stubborn pride troubled him greatly, and although he tried many times, he could not confess his sin to his religious followers.  Dimmesdale felt guilt so strongly that he scourged himself on his breast and patterned an “A” into his own flesh, yet he could not confess his sin until his grief grew so great it caused him to perish.  Reverend Dimmesdale's sin was greater than Hester's because he let his pride conflict with his repentance, and let his life be ruined by his anguish.

There is one human emotion that can paralyse us, lead us to lie both to ourselves and others, to commit actions that we don’t endure, and to cripple any rational thought processes. It is self perpetuating if allowed to get out of control. Its side effects are anger, aggressiveness, fear or reclusiveness. Its symptoms are irrational behaviour, lying, anguish, and lack of self-esteem. It is the strong emotion that can affect our conscience, like an acid drop it corrodes the soul within and in extreme conditions it demolishes one’s life, it is better known as guilt. Guilt is a reoccurring theme in Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business, and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that is demonstrated by various characters including, Dunstable Ramsay, Paul

Guilt is the regret one experiences when they realise their action was not appropriate according to a lawful or moral standard. In Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies, guilt was a major theme and was essential throughout the novel. Davies used the three main characters, Dunstan Ramsay, Boy Staunton, and Paul Dempster to illustrate the different effects of Mrs. Dempster’s incident. The way one is raised, the key disciplines they have developed and their way of thinking reflects how they deal with guilt.

Particularly, Dunstan feels guilt for taking part in the snowball fight that left Mary Dempster simple. When Dunstan grew up and was older, “[he] was duly appointed the guardian of Mary Dempster” (Davies 163). That is to say, Dunstan grew up with such guilt over the snowball incident, that he found himself in the position to become the legal caregiver of Mrs. Dempster. From the beginning, Davies illustrates how Dunstan would visit Mrs. Dempster to make sure she was alright and to help her do various house chores. In fact, as Dunstan grew up, he looked for Mrs. Dempster’s new place of residence and made it a habit to visit as often as he could.

In the novel, Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, Dunstan Ramsey’s life choices are greatly impacted by his guilt. At the young age of ten years old, Dunstan’s life was changed by association with a traumatic experience, Mrs. Dempster, a pregnant woman, was hit by an incoming snowball thrown by Percy Boyd Staunton meant for Dunstan. This snowball caused Mrs. Dempster to go into labour, 80 days before she was supposed to, as well as causing life changing brain damage. Mrs. Dempster was forever labelled as simple by the people of the town. Percy showed no emotion towards this event ever occurring and because Dunstan felt someone should be responsible for this incident, he put the blame on himself.

Mary has a huge role in the development of Dunstan. Firstly, because of the snowball incident, which Mary was part of, Dunstan carries around the guilt from that day his entire life. He thinks it is his fault and that leads to him trying to take care of Mary. While he was taking care of her, he grew attached to her. The biggest inspirations for Dunstan to go down the path of Hagiology was Mary Dempster.

Whilst reading the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, Dunstan Ramsey has developed many relationships with the characters whom are mentioned in the novel. One who stands out particularly is his relationship with Mary Dempster, the lady he has known for decades. As it is shown in the novel the author Davies has a theme of displaying different archetypes for each one of his characters, including Mary Dempster who identifies to be “The Innocent”. Examples include when she was hit in the head with a snowball, giving items out to the townspeople and losing her son Paul at the young age of ten years old.

Dunstan first got involved with Mrs. Dempster during the snowball incident where “the snowball aimed at him by the town bully instead hits the pregnant Mary Dempster, precipitating the premature birth of her son and her descent into mental illness.” (Bowers). Dunstan believed that by moving out of the snowball’s path, that he broke apart Mary Dempster’s life and so he carries this guilt for the rest of his life. By being caring towards Mrs. Dempster and helping her out in any way possible, it was his way of repaying Percy’s sins. Mrs. Dempster performed 3 miracles that sparked

Guilty conscience is a theme that appears after unfortunate cases in one 's life. In Fifth Business, guilt is shown through the experiences of Dunstan, as he blames himself for the cause of Paul Dempster’s premature birth. This surrounds him with the feeling of guilt, which he carries into old age. After Percy throws the snowball at Mary Dempster, it results in a cycle of guilt emerging. Dunstan states, “... for I knew the snowball had been meant for me...” (Davies 3). Mary Dempster gets hit by a snowball after Boy taunts Dunstan. Dunstan explains how the snowball was meant to hit him, and he takes the blame for failing to take the hit for Mary Dempster. The cause and effect of guilt is the fact that he indirectly the root of Paul’s early birth. Identically, Hamlet measures many reflective questions in his mind that prevents him from avenging his dead father, however, it does not prevent him from being violent. First, he

Dunstan’s relationship with Mrs. Dempster begins with much love and care, but Dunstan’s mishandling of her mental state leads to a rough end to the relationship. Dunstan’s affiliation with Mrs. Dempster began through his mother, who helped with taking care of Paul. With time Dunstan becomes attracted to Mrs. Dempster’s nonchalant approach to the obstacles she faces in life, which defied the social norms in Deptford. As his peers find out about his relation to the Dempster’s, Dunstan confesses his inner feelings to the reader regarding Mrs. Dempster: “I had made her what she was, and in such circumstances I must hate her or love her. In a mode that was too far demanding for my age or experience, I loved her” (Davies 24). Dunstan’s is unable

The accusations against him, brought by Briony Tallis, held him responsible for the violation of her cousin Lola. Robbie reflects on this, as Briony plans to refute her statement to the police, “The intricacies were lost to him, the urgency had died. Briony would change her evidence, she would rewrite the past so that the guilty became the innocent. But what was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there weren’t enough people… to…gather in the facts.” (188) Robbie’s loss of security and his future took away the childlike carefreeness he displayed before the accusation. Briony’s conscience weighs heavily on her as she moves from a naïve implication to the realization of the consequences.

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