Religion, Myth, and Magic in Robertson Davies’s Fifth Business Essay

Religion, Myth, and Magic in Robertson Daviess twenty percent handicraftInterwoven with light and shadows, Robertson Daviess Fifth Business is penetrated with fantastical elements that rub uneasily against feelings of guilt. A snowball thrown by young Boy Staunton misses Dunstan and hits bloody shame Dempster, causing the premature tolerate of capital of Minnesota and the insanity of Mary. Guilt ensues and threatens to envelop Dunstable, Dunny, and Dunstan. One is his name by birth the other a pet name and the third, his true name upon organism born again. With so m all identities, Dunstan struggles to understand his role as twenty percent business and to learn to untie himself from his burden of guilt. Conventional religion may confine Dunstan Ramsays spiritual growth, but it lays a firm ass for him to mature. Myth finds a place in the heart of Dunstan and teaches him to grow. Magic is the flight of stairs of yore that Dunstan seeks and successfully rediscovers. Religion, my th, and magic are intertwined in Dunstan Ramsays life, crucial for the fulfilment of Ramsay as a person through the wonder they inspire.Dunstan Ramsays family, curiously Dunstans authoritative mother, is the epitome of Scottish Presbyterianism in Dunstans life. The Scots are the paragons of common sense and prudence they are not allowed the prevalent failings normally associated with the human condition,1 and Dunstan is indeed acutely aware of any shortcomings he might have. Though Dunstan declares that the Scottish practicality that he has imitated from his parents is not really in grain with him2, the chilly Presbyterian ethos3 remain. When he dodges Percy Boyd Stauntons snowball and it hits Mary Dempster which causes the premature birth of Paul and the madness of Mary ... ...enreich, The postwar Novel. p. 63. Robertson Davies. Fifth Business. p. 262. John Moss, Sex and force out in the Canadian Novel. p. 103 Robertson Davies. Fifth Business. p. 217. ib. p. 221. Ibid. p. 226. Ibid. p. 227.Primary sourceDavies, Robertson. Fifth Business. Toronto Penguin Group, 1970.Secondary sourcesHeidenreich, Rosmarin. The Postwar Novel. Waterloo, Ontario Wilfrid Laurier University promote, 1989.Little, Dave. Catching the Wind in a Net the Religious vision of Roberston Davies. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2996.Monk, Patricia. Mud and Magic Robertson Daviess Fifth Business. Don Mills, Ont. ECW Press, 1992.Moss, John. Sex and Violence in the Canadian Novel. Toronto, Ontario McClelland and Stewart, 1977.Quigley, Theresia, The Child Hero in the Canadian Novel. Toronto NC Press Limited, 1991.