Summary and Analysis of Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

Author
Robertson Davies

Setting
Deptford, Ontario
Various Part of Europe
Toronto

Characters
Dunstable Ramsay (Dunstan): The protagonist of the story, great ego and pride, serves as the fifth business of the story until the end of the story
Percy Boyd Staunton (Boy): life-long friend and nemesis of Dunstan, lives purely for material gain and personal success
Paul Dempster (Magnus Eisengrim): Magical magician who grows to resent Dunstan and everything regarding his mother and Deptford. Christ figure
Mrs. Dempster: The woman who Dunstan idolizes as a saint, performed three miracles.
Liesl: Bearded woman who offered a large quantity of insight into the dark folds of Dunstan's life.
Padre Blazon: Devout Jesuit and Mentor to Dustan, also provides insight
Leola: High School sweetheart to both Dunstan and Boy, but later becomes pitied by both until her death

Plot

Part 1: Mrs. Dempster

1. Introduction to Memoir: Dunstan is writing to a headmaster about some article that was written about him. The story follows.
2. As a boy, Dunstan coming come from playing dodges a snowball, which strikes Mrs. Dempster instead. Paul's premature birth ensues.
3. Dunstan begins to watch over Mrs. Dempster and Paul. He teaches Paul magic tricks.
4. Mrs. Dempster has sex with a hobo and becomes shunned by Deptford.
5. Mrs. Dempster brings Dunstan's brother back to life, significant increase of idolization.
6. Dunstan enlists in the WWI draft to escape his mother

Part 2: I Am Born Again

1. Earns the Victoria's Cross medal from brutally murdering a bunch of Germans in a machine gun nest, becomes national hero.
2. Wakes up in the hospital after being in a coma for months- missing a leg
3. Falls in love with nurse, Diana
4. Breaks up with Diana, who re-names him
5. Goes back to Deptford, parents are dead, Paul ran away, and decides to move to Toronto to attend University; becomes friends with Boy there

Part 3: My Fool-Saint

1. Gets degree in History
2. Boy earns money through some scheming, and becomes distinguished through an empire in sugar
3. Dunstan travels to Europe using the money he acquired through Boy, where he finds out that the hobo that Mrs. Dempster had sex with was "saved".
4. Briefly encounters Paul Dempster and Liesl in Europe

Part 4: Gyges and King Candaules

1. Back in Toronto, Boy tempts Dunstan with Leola
2. Dunstan is names Mary Dempster's guardian when her aunt dies, and is then obligated to care for her
3. Meets Padre Blazon back in Europe while working with Jesuit priests

Part 5: Liesl

1. Serves as interim headmaster during WWII, Boy is away at international philanthropic efforts, Leola dies with only Dunstan to manage the funeral
2. Boy asks Dunstan to step down as headmaster and he gets a sabbatical to travel to Mexico with.
3. Meets Paul again (now Magnus Eisengrim) and his bearded lady friend, Liesl. Joins their magic show as a writer
4. Liesl tells Dunstan that he is fifth business and has a sexualized brawl with her> she becomes his mentor

Part 6: The Soirée of Illusions

1. Boy remarries
2. Dunstan upsets Mrs. Dempster by telling her about Paul, and he becomes her enemy. He never visits her again until she dies
3. Dunstan introduces Paul and Boy to eachother in Toronto and reveals the long-kept secret of the rock in the snowball.
4. Paul kills Boy; Dunstan has a heart when he finds out at the Eisengrim show

*This plot summary may be a little too long, but I didn't think I could really condense it any more*

Quotes
“God is subtle, but He is not cruel” -Padre Blazon (pg. 179)
This quote is in reference to when Blazon is explaining to Dunstan that the misfortune of Mrs. Dempster's life was likely a small part of the greater work of God, therefor, Dunstan should not brood over the guilt he feels for her misfortune. Furthermore, Blazon explains that the greater workings of God are far too complex for the understanding of man, so the categorizing of "good" and "bad" is arbitrary in comparison. One must embrace the graduations of light and darkness within one's self, because the categories created by society are not always appropriate for the varying circumstances of life.

“I was afraid and did not know what I feared, which is the worst kind of fear." -Dunstan (pg. 41)
In this part, Dunstan is helping the men of the town search for Mrs. Dempster. He is literally afraid because he is having trouble navigating the dangerous gravel pit, but also, he feels underlying angst to the array of dark possibilities of what may lie before him in the night. This quote also exemplifies the problems that Dunstan had with confronting and accepting the darkness of his life.

Theme
In today's society, people are so self-centered that they cannot recognize or appreciate truth.

~OR~

An individual must be willing to live by the dichotomy of their personal moral compass in order to reach individuation and create a meaningful mythology out of their life.