Dunstable Ramsay: Character Analysis Essay

Dunstable Ramsay Character Analysis

In the novel, Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, the character, Dunstable Ramsay is effected by his relationships with women. He experiences guilt, social isolation, and love due to the interaction and relationships with his mother and Mrs. Dempster. The relationships that Dunstable has with these women change the way he acts, feels and is treated by others. Dunstable faces guilt when he ultimately causes the birth of Paul Dempster by jumping in front of a pregnant Mary Dempster, to avoid a snowball. He faces isolation as he learns to not trust women, through experiences with his mom. Also, he experiences love for Mrs. Dempster and this causes him to defend her, adding to his social isolation.

Dunny experiences guilt, early in his childhood. While evading a snowball, thrown by Percy Boyd, Dunstable jolts in front of the Dempsters. Mrs. Dempster takes a fall, after being struck by the snowball and because she is pregnant, this causes her to have her baby prematurely. When Dunstable realises that it is him who causes this early birth he begins to feel guilt. The guilt takes over Dunstable and it is even worse because no one knows that it was him who causes the early birth. As his guilt takes over him, Dunny compares what he is feeling to what dying feels like and questions whether that would be better than dealing with this overwhelming guilt: Ah, if dying were all there was to it! Hell and torment at once, but at least you know where you stand. It is living with these guilty secrets that exacts the price (Davies 19) These thoughts of guilt and dispair that Dunstable feels are because of the incidents that occurr between him and Mrs. Dempster. This guilt haunts him and takes over his feelings, so much that he thinks of dying and whether it would be easier than dealing with his guilt ridden self.

The feeling of guilt that Dunstable has also effects him because in sympathy, Dunstable attempts to aid Mrs. Dempster and the family as much as possible. By spending time around Mrs. Dempster, he comes to the realisation of the fact that he loves her. This love causes him to defend Mrs. Dempster from the constant bickering and rumours made of her and the Dempsters, by people at Dunnys school: Loving her, I had to defend her, and when people said she was crazy I had to force myself to tell them that they were crazy themselves and I would knock their blocks off if they said it again. (Davies 24) Dunstable finds a unique feeling in Mrs. Dempster. This feeling is love. He is constantly around Mrs. Dempster, creating this love that he feels towards her. It is explained that [Dunstable] saw her every day, [he] did menial tasks in her house, and [he] was charged to watch her and keep her and keep her from doing foolish things. Furthermore, [he] felt [him]self tied to her (Davies 24) This attachment he feel to Mrs. Dempster creates a unique love that he also feels for her. This interaction with Mrs. Dempster changes Dunstable and allows him to experience something new; love. The love is experienced also with his mother, at seldom times though and it is difficult for Dunny to express this feeling he had for his mother: She did not know how much I loved her, and how miserable it made me to defy her, but what was I to do? (Davies 59) Dunny could not express his love for his mother because of their relationship. This relationship that they created over the years, a relationship of mistrust and dispair, ultimately ruined the feelings that Dunstable had towards her, showing that his feelings of hate outlied those of love.

Another feeling that Dunstable Ramsay experiences because of his relationships with women in his life, is social isolation. This isolation is caused by his relationship with both his mother and Mrs. Dempster. The isolation that is caused by his interaction with his mother is experienced when he begins to show hate towards his mother and loses her trust. In his early childhood, Dunny loves his mother and shows effection towards her, until one day when she beats him for dropping an egg. His mother gets very angry, in the progress: Dont you dare touch me, I shouted, and that put her into such a fury as I had never known. (Davies 29) After these events, Dunny questions whether he can trust his mother anymore, or anybody for that matter: But what I knew then was that nobody not even my mother- was to be trusted in a strange world that showed very little on the surface. (Davies 29) Dunstable questions his ability to trust his mother because of the way she acted. He wondered if she could actually love him, after experiencing her true, horrific anger towards him when he broke one of her eggs. This also leads him to the decision that if he cannot even trust his own mother, he couldnt trust anybody. This interaction with his mother changes his view on people, specifically women and it causes him to isolate himself from others because of his lack of trust for anyone. Also, his interactions with Mrs. Dempster create a sort of social isolation as well. Because he spends so much time at the Dempster household and with Mrs. Dempster, he begins to be teased for it: but sometimes I could see that they wanted to say it, and I knew they said it behind my bck. This increased my sense of isolation. (Davies 25) As people at school tease him for spending time around Mrs. Dempster he begins to feel isolate from them. He doesnt involve himself in sports or other school activities, bringing himself away from the others, because he is constantly at the Dempster house. This isolation is brought upon by his relationship with Mrs. Dempster and it highly effects his life and how others treat him.

Due to the social isolation, the guilt and the lack of love shown towards his mother, caused by his interactions with these women, he is haunted by the constant mental pain he experiences and wants to flee from these pains. He does this by enlisting in the army at a premature age: she conducted by demanding that I make a choice between [Dunnys mother] and [Mrs. Dempster]. I made a third choice the next day I skipped school, went to the county town, and enlisted. (Davies 59) These horrid feelings he has for women because of the relationships he has with them cause him to flee. He flees the problems he has back home, to enlist in the army.

In conclusion, the relationships between Dunstable Ramsay and women in his life cause him to feel guilt, love and social isolation. Because of these experiences, he ultimately flees them by enlisting in the army. He experiences guilt after causing the premature birth of Mrs. Dempsters baby. He experiences love towards Mrs. Dempster but also towards his mother. Also, he experiences social isolation because of the feelings he has towards both Mrs. Dempster and his mother. All of these experiences cause with women ultimately shape Dunstable Ramsay and effect him as a person.