Guilt in Robertson Davies' "Fifth Business"

Guilt in Fifth Business One feeling that may cause mixed emotions such as anger, hate, or fear, a feeling that can also cripple one's mind, is guilt. Robertson Davies' "Fifth Business" demonstrates how guilt is able to corrupt the young minds of children through the characters of Paul and Dunstan. On the other hand, he also shows how a child will suppress an incident into their unconscious mind if it makes him feel uncomfortable, or …

…magician. Dunstan lives his life feeling guilty, spends a great deal of his life making it up to Mrs. Dempster, basing his saint exploration on her, and playing his role as "fifth business". Boy lives his life avoiding guilt by running away from his fears which in the end leads to his inevitable death. The chain of events that grew from one incident corrupted the lives of the characters until the guilt was dealt with.