“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.” Albert Schweitzer suggests that the loss of essential parts of one’s self can in fact be more tragic than death. Robertson Davies implies that tragedy can be an internal force, driven by psychological, subconscious factors, or it can be an external force, thrust upon individuals by their families or society. Individual characters in Fifth Business were allocated both externally, but especially through internal conflict, which led them astray, away from euphoria and inner peace. In each instance, death was the only escape from the hardships forced upon these selected individuals. In his novel, Fifth Business, Davies suggests that an unlived life, one corrupted by inner …show more content…
Dempster; she knew it too” (34). While Amasa had loved Mary before she had lost her sanity, he began to look to his wife as an unwanted responsibility rather than a partner after she had become simple. While Dunny was enjoying “Le grand Cirque forain de St Vite,” he stumbled across Paul Dempster, Mary’s only son. He had run away from home due to the constant ridicule in his life, forced upon him by his mother’s status in Deptford as well as his father’s harsh convictions, one of which stating, “my [Paul] birth is what robbed her of her sanity” (251). Whilst speaking of Mary with Paul, he says to Dunny, “I had to bear the cruelty of people who thought her kind of madness was funny- a dirty joke. So far as I’m concerned, it is over, and if she dies mad, who will not say that she is better dead?” (140) As an “insane” person, one can be relieved of the legal responsibility for an act committed, which can be connected to Mary’s deeds in the pit as well as her overall “simple” demeanour. Deptford, described as a town with “much to show of virtue, dignity, and even nobility,” (10) ironically dismisses the legality of Mary’s situation in order to ridicule her and her family profusely. Davies uses Mary Dempster’s loss of sanity and parallels it with Leola Staunton, who further identifies with Mary on
The novel is narrated by Death, a guy who’s getting tired and bored of his job. He wants a vacation, but sadly no one can replace him. He tries to find ways to give meaning to his job. He is fascinated by humans and colours of the world, and he is curious of how humans are capable of so much ugliness and so much beauty. Death is some way more human than a lot of people.
Everyman is a Christian morality play written during the 1400s. No one yet knows who wrote this play. It is said that Everyman is the English translation of similar Dutch morality play of the same period called Elckerlijc. Everyman is generally represented as the best and most original example of the English morality play. “Like other morality plays from the late medieval period, it is meant to communicate a simple moral lesson to both educated and illiterate audiences” (Gyamfi & Schmidt, 2011). “Everyman” is about a man who is content with his life when Death calls and tells him about his end. The author has used metaphorical names for characters to show up the moral of the play.
The guilt felt by Dunstan altered the way he lives through his complete devotion for Mary Dempster. Dunstan’s guilt is the
Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. In the end it is a story of the ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness, the White City and the Black. (Larson
Mrs. Dempster, who is the young wife of the pastor, was unfit for nursing children and taking care of domestic tasks, compared to other housewives in Deptford. As such, townspeople would gossip about Mrs. Dempster’s family: “By the time a year had passed since Paul’s birth her husband had become ‘poor Reverend Dempster’ to everybody, a man burdened with a simple-minded wife and a delicate child, and it was a general source of amazement that he could make ends meet” (Davies P). The townspeople’s rumours reflects an obsolete prejudice, where women must be competent in domestic tasks. Besides possessing the capability of doing housework, the society deemed that married women should be loyal to their husbands as well. In the novel, after Mrs. Dempster had gotten lost, the townspeople found her naked in the grove with the tramp. At first, the townspeople thought that Mrs. Dempster had been the victim of rape. However, Mrs. Dempster clarified that she had not been raped, because that man desired her. Afterwards, the townspeople no longer believed that Mrs Dempster was a simple woman, and talked about her, behind her back: “Mrs. Dempster
this rivalry had not been there, it is possible that Boy would not have been as
Yep the Dempster’s that’s the bughouse now’... ‘if you ever say that again I’ll get a great big cork and stick it up you, and then nobody’ll ever laugh at you again’”(Davies 25). Dunstan is trying to earn Mrs.Dempster’s honor by protecting them from the community in Deptford. Guilt forces Dunstan to try and reclaim Mrs.Dempster’s honor by proving that she is a saint. Dunstan does this by protecting their family name and researching on Roman
In addition to his commitment to Mary Dempster, Dunstan felt responsible for the premature birth of her son Paul Dempster, which led him to also care for Paul.
The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."
Finally, throughout the novel, Mary Dempster has an impactful role in the growth of Dunstan Ramsay. Mary teaches Dunny to disregard the moral rules of society, and to behave in a manner that is unselfish and for the betterment of others. Dunny admires Mary
In contrast, when we interpret Mary Dempster along Jungian archetypes, we see her in various roles and see her as a dynamic character who changes as much as Dunny does in the novel since she is arguably, one of the active agents for change in Dunny's life. Firstly, she is the mother figure, bringing forth a weakened child into the world. She then becomes a type of a savior figure, not only because of her appearance to Dunny as he crawls through the mud in World War I, but also because she gave of herself unselfishly to the drifter in the grave pit. After this incident she is not crazy, but distracted. She becomes the Jungian outcast in the novel since the small town mentality cannot accept why she would ever prostate herself to a drifter. Mary becomes other things through the novel. This is just a start. The point is
The theme of suffering can come in numerous varieties; under categories both physical and emotional. Suffering is presented as a key concept in ‘Othello’, ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. All three texts explore many aspects of suffering in parts, however the most obvious and concentrated facet leans towards the psychological aspect rather then the physical side. In the three chosen texts many of the characters suffer from some sort of emotional trauma. Psychological suffering and distress is a major topic in all three chosen texts as the authors use this ailment in order to drive the storyline forward,
Traditionally, women have been known as the less dominant sex. They have been stereotyped as being only housewives and bearers of the children. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men; society, in general; and within a woman herself. Kate Chopin‘s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, focus on a woman’s dilemma near the turn of the 19th century. Contradicting the “normal” or sad assumption of death, “The Story of an Hour” illustrates the significance of death representing freedom. The Story narrates about an hour of Louise Mallard’s life, as she tries to understand, and deal with her feelings of her husbands death.
As the novel progresses, the two major themes of love altering one’s soul and misfortune being
In the play Death of a Salesman, the author investigates human nature and represents his main character as a person whose dissatisfaction with his own life leads to his tragic end. The plot of