Women And Decisions In Robertson Davies's Fifth Business

Females can be viewed by males in different ways, they can view females as an authoritative person, and romantic person, a Godly person, a pure person, a mother, a wive and much more. This view can impact a males thinking and decisions, which is what exactly happened to Dunstan. Mrs. Dempster and Diana Marfleet, in particular, changed Dunstan's viewpoint and decisions throughout the book. Which is why its safe to say that in the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, Mrs. Dempster, and Diana Marfleet affects Dunstan decision making which impacts his life but also gives him self-realization and individuation.
Mrs. Dempster has affected Dunstan's life through the guilt he had toward her. His guilt for dodging the snowball made him commit himself

Dempster, she has affected Dunstan in a positive way, instead of guilt she gave him solutions such as changing his name, making him have a new experience, and romantically. Diana’s care of Dunstan and their romantic stage made Dunstan turn into a different person when he came back to Deptford “Diana had thought me a thing or two about kisses, and I gave her (Leola) a pretty good example of that art”(91). Diana was Dunstan's first romantic encounter. if Dunstan did not meet Diana, he would not have taken action and kiss Leola in public like that. Diana impacted Dunstan by showing him bravery and even he noticed that which can be another example of his self – realization. Diana also made Dunstan change his name from Dunstable to Dunstan and he was ok with that “ I like the idea of a new name; it suggests new freedom and new personality” (83). By Diana suggesting a new name, it impacts his life; he gest richer because of the success of his business, and he gets more spiritual especially now that his new name is a saints name. Diana and Dunstan's physical love was another solution for Dunstan's life because he used that as a way of him growing into a man.” I had not only learned about physical love in splendid guise from Diana” (Davies). Diana’s solution for Dunstan to overcome his guilt is to make him have some manhood in him and he realized that the physical love was important for him to further on in the book. Diana

Dempster has thought Dunstan life lessons that have influenced his life. Diana’s name change did not only helped Dunstan with solutions for life but also thought him a lesson. “ she had fallen in love with me because she felt she had made whatever I was out of a smashed-up and insensible hospital case”(84). The name change is one example of Diana's impact in Dunstan’s life, she also baptized him into a new man and made him have experience on physical love which gave him a sense of purpose that he did not have before. Diana brings Dunstan back alive after his accident in the war and thought him the value of life. Diana also thought Dunstan how females are and that they are all different with the quote “But I have said it before and I repeat, Diana was really an exceptional girl, and when she saw she was not going to get her way she gave with grace”(82). Dunstan learns from Diana that females are able to analyze their feelings carefully and smartly, this impacts his life because Dunstan gets to learn and understand that important women - Mrs. Dempster – in his life are capable for anything. Diana’s name change also changed Dunstan on a spiritual level as she changes his name to a saint’s name. “ why don’t you change it to Dunstan? St. Dunstan… and gave it a terrible twist” (83). Since Dunstan changed his name into a saint’s name, he got more interested in Mrs. Dempster as he believed that she was a saint and more interested in religion. Diana played a big