Guilt in Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

“Why do I want to live? I shouldn’t want to but I do.” (Zusak 487) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is encircled with the idea of trying to find freedom from one’s guilt. Several characters’ in this novel such as Hans Hubermann, Max Vandenburg, as well as Ilsa Hermann all experience guilt throughout the story which slowly eats away at their lives and it’s up to them as to how they will deal with their guilt. Guilt came in to Hans Hubermann’s life when he escapes death in World War I. Hans friend Erik, saves Hans life and now, Hans carries the guilt of Erik’s death and promises to help Erik’s family. Little did Hans know, that in the near future he would save Erik’s son, Max Vandenburg from death. Previously, Max Vandenburg left his family

Guilt is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense; real or imagined, and affects normal people everyday at various stages of life. When loved ones and those that are close pass away, it is not uncommon for those left behind to experience feelings of accountability known as survivor’s guilt. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, survivor’s guilt can be identified in three main characters: Liesel, Max, and Hans, and creates profound emotional and behavioral effects on these characters throughout the novel. The debut of survivor’s guilt appears after the death of Liesel Meminger’s little brother, Werner.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in

Guilt is a nerving feeling that one has had at least once in their life time. Dwelling on the past can set one back majorly in life. Guilt is a major theme that has led the protagonist Dunstan Ramsay to live a unique life in Roberton Davies' novel Fifth Business. Percy Staunton is Dunstan's best friend and worst enemy. Diana Marfleet has given Dunstan the proper care one of like a mother to Dunstan. Finally, Mrs. Dempster going "simple" has led Dunstan to live in the past. In the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, the characters Percy Staunton, Diana Marfleet and Mrs. Dempster have given Dunstan Ramsay's life excitement, meaning and adventure.

Baumeister et al. (1994) describes guilt as an individual's unpleasant emotional state associated with possible objections to his or her actions, inaction, circumstances, or intentions. Baumeister et al. (1994) thought that Guilt could be understood in a relationship contexts as

Guilt is a powerful emotion that can greatly affect the course of a person’s life. Dunny’s character, in Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business, first experienced guilt at an early age due to a tragic accident. A snowball that was meant for Dunny hit a pregnant woman, Mrs. Dempster, causing her to go into premature labour. Although her child, Paul Dempster, survived, the guilt that Dunny experienced from his part in the situation would stay with him for the rest of his life. Guilt stayed with Dunny’s character throughout his life, and continually affected all of his actions.

All actions have consequences. Sometimes one does not have to participate in the action, but only be related, and the crime committed can have serious consequences for everyone. The consequence, or lack of consequence, is determined by one’s upbringing. This is clearly the case present in Robertston Davies’ Fifth Business. Although Boy committed the crime, Dunstan feels a profound sense of guilt about the snowball incident. On the other hand, Boy obliterates his guilt. Guilt and lack of guilt can clearly be seen through character’s lives, relationships and philosophies.

The obsession, the hardship, and the struggle to make life seemingly simple and easy, is an understatement to its true complexity. To dwell in the past, is a fault that one must not fall under, or else the difficulty to progress and move forward with the future, is a pleasure the past will have to turn any due progression, into failure. Robertson Davies’ novel, Fifth Business, examines the memoir of the character Dunstan Ramsay that reveals the struggles he comes across in his life, and the failure he has with moving forward to progressing from these struggles. By examining Dunstan’s Victoria Cross, his engagement to Diana, and Mary being a saint, one can see behind every literal event is a deeper psychological truth that Dunstan seeks,

GUILT is an emotion one gets when he/she believes or discovers that he/she did a wrong deed and valuated his/her standard social, moral or penal code ( Chaplin, 1975). The intensity of guilt varies from one person to another. When some individuals survive a horrific event, they get this overwhelming feeling of guilt and blame themselves for surviving the abominable situation that others did not survive. This state of mind is a mental condition and is sometimes termed as imagined guilt. It may be found in survivors of holocausts, natural disasters, mass murder and pandemics e.g. the 9/11 Oklahoma City bombings. While this guilt might not be experienced by everyone, it a research based

In Fifth Business, Robertson Davies attempts to illustrate the quest for self-identity through the life of the novel’s protagonist, Dunstable Ramsay. During the first pages of this novel, a life-changing incident occurs that severely affects the fates of the three main characters: Dunstable Ramsay, Percy Staunton, and Paul Dempster. In the small town of Deptford, Ontario, Percy Staunton, the town’s bully, throws a snowball bearing a stone at Dunstable. Being clever boy, Dunstable quickly ducks out of the way and the snowball collides with pregnant Mrs. Dempster’s skull. As a result, Mrs. Dempster loses her sanity, goes into early labour, and gives birth to her premature child, Paul Dempster. Although Dunstable was not the one to throw the

There is one human emotion that can paralyse us, lead us to lie both to ourselves and others, to take action that we don 't like, and to cripple any rational thought processes. It is self perpetuating if allowed to get out of control. Its side effects are either anger, aggressiveness or fear and reclusiveness. Its symptoms are irrational behaviour, lying, anguish, lack of self-esteem, and in extreme cases, thoughts of suicide. It is guilt. In both novels The Fifth Business and The Manticore by Robertson Davies, guilt is a reoccurring theme throughout the novels and is a major force in one’s life. Davies demonstrates this by having both character feeling guilt. While both novels demonstrated themes of guilt, Guilt comes from terrible Childhood experiences is a topic that keeps running all through both The Fifth Business and returns throughout the following book in the series, “The Manticore”, and its effect on the lives of the characters Dunstan Ramsay in "Fifth Business" and David Staunton in "The Manticore". Both Character show events of guilt in the past appear to shape the whole course life they take, how compromise is a must before true identity or personality can be uncovered, and their similar thoughts on religion: however, the main character in Fifth Business shows a stronger effect of guilt due to horrible childhood incident.

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

[She wishes] to make a bargain”(Coakley 288). Here, Ann feels a copious amount of guilt which makes her put on a ‘mask’ of confidence and pay a higher price in order to cross over and help her siblings. The decision Ann makes out of guilt at the moment later on makes her happier and greatly benefits her since she is able to express her opinions more freely and ultimately improve her self-esteem. The idea that guilt makes people improve in positive ways could also be applied in many current world situations. For instance, someone could have not participated in a group project for the first time resulting in a feeling of guilt.

Guilt comes from many different situations, from when the little ones steal a cookie from the cookie jar before dinner to being suppressed with the knowledge that you killed someone and not many knew of this and not the secret comes out. Agatha Christie, well-known author of the mystery genre in the 1930s that writes during the “golden age” of detective writing (Winks 126). In Agatha Christie’s book, And Then There Were None, the guilt between the ten people has taken a turn for the worst with the ending of so many deaths of every character with only one motive, they know too much. Although some people try to cope with horrific experiences without guilt, Agatha Christie uses symbolism and parallels major events with poetic references to capture

Seven Pounds, a movie starring Will Smith, is a powerful movie that raises many ethical questions. Throughout the movie, Ben Thomas (Will Smith), is on a mission to right a wrong that he has committed and fulfill what he has come to realize as his life purpose. The main message of the film deals with what each individual’s purpose in life is and how he or she can fulfill that purpose. For Ben, who causes a terrible car accident that kills seven people including his fiancée’s as it is revealed to viewers throughout the movie, he believes his purpose in life is to help seven people in unexpected, drastic ways–the last of which will take his own life. Ben is motivated by guilt and shame which function as moral controls throughout this film. He personifies the top of Kohlberg’s model of cognitive moral development stages which deal with conventional morality and postconventional morality as he directly deals with individual ethics as well as business ethics in various rare instances. It’s these rare situations that blur the lines between right and wrong and that Seven Pounds is centered around when decisions are made in order to serve the greater good in contrast to the rules and laws that govern society.