Women's Role In Fifth Business

The Influence of Woman in the life of Dunstan Ramsay

Behind every great man lies a great woman. In some cases the woman herself may not be ideal or favorable according to society. Nevertheless, she seems to add character to the man, and influences his actions. Robertson Davies’s female character’s have done just this as they have had influenced Dunstan though his lifelong experiences.The role of woman is essential to the character development and spiritual meaning that Dunstan acquires throughout the novel Fifth Business and whether they have a positive or negative influence on him.The influential female characters in Dunstan’s life include Mrs.Ramsay, Mrs. Dempster and Diana Marfleet.

To begin, Dunstan is influenced by his mother Mrs.

Dunstan’s mother wants to be in control and for him to know that she is. She tries to control Dunstans relationship with Mrs. Dempster.“One day, after a particularly wretched supper, she concluded by demanding that I make a choice between her and “that woman” (Davies 59). This experience of a maternal role in Dunstan’s life shapes him into a person who wants to be in control of his own life and the decisions that he makes. He does not want anyone dominating him and having power over him. In this way it helps him to establish a sense of self and be able to make important decisions that turn him into the wise man he is. In addition, Mrs. Ramsay isolates Dunstan from the “ordinary teenage life”. Dunstan feels isolated a various amount of occasions when living with his mother

Not only that but Dunstan carries a plague of guilt with him throughout the novel and holds it against himself. This begins which the second miracle where Mrs. Dempster has supposably saved Willie’s life raising him from his deathbed. "For me, Willie's recall from death is, and will always be, Mrs. Dempster's second miracle" (Davies 57). Whether people agree or not Dunstan believes that this procedure was a complete miracle. This commenced his journey through mythology and in believing that Mary Dempster was a saint. Mary Dempster serves as the prime reason for Dunstans guilt throughout his life. He believes that he is the one who caused her life to fall apart by simply moving out of the way of the snowball that boy threw and hit Mrs.Dempster. Dunstan has held onto the stone that was placed inside this snowball as a constant reminder of his guilt “I’ve kept it because I couldn’t part with it. I swear i never meant to tell you what it was. But, Boy, for God’s sake, get to know something about yourself. The stone-in-the-snowball has been characteristic of too much you’ve done to forget it forever!” (Davies 270). Dunstans caring for Mrs.Dempster was him sacrificing himself for the sins of Boy. Dunstan is not only exposing Boy but he is also relieving the guilt that he has been holding onto all his life. Mrs.Dempster, the accident