Essay Archive - Davis' "Fifth Business": Death of Boy Staunton
Davis' "Fifth Business": Death of Boy Staunton
Guilt can only be suppressed for a limited time before it comes out
in unwanted ways. In the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, Boy
Staunton -a successful business man with a polished appearance but a
tortured soul- took the ultimate plunge into his death. His decision was
not merely his own, but was influenced by a team of hands that helped push
him to his destiny. First Leola, who was his first love and his wife. Then
Mary Dempster, a neighbor from his old town Deptford, whom he mistakenly
made into a “simple” woman. Next his life long-friend and enemy, Dunst....
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