Individualism In Fifth Business

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” This quote by Carl Jung provides a brilliant overview of his concept of individualism. Throughout the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies the author demonstrates the application of this concept through Dunstan Ramsay’s life journey to self-realization. Davies exemplifies the characters psychological development with the understanding of his persona, collective unconscious and shadow. Once Dustan was able to assimilate his conscious and unconscious it enabled him to achieve self-actualization. Dunstan Ramsay’s persona differentiated from various stages of his life, through self- identification and the

C.G. Jung defines persona as a social façade that reflects the role in life an individual is playing. Throughout the novel, Dunstan’s public front that he portrays is the role of Fifth Business. He is characterized as such because of his role in other peoples lives as his contributions and importance often goes unnoticed but his presence is crucial to others. Liesl assisted him in acknowledging this social identity by explaining“…

You must have Fifth Business because he is the one who knows the secrets of the hero’s birth, or comes to the assistance of the heroine when she thinks all is lost…” (Liselotte Vitzliputzli, 231) After he realizes that he embodies this characterization he accepts the role as he later in life writes, “ I have been cast by

Fate and my own character for the vital though the never glorious role of Fifth Business!” (Davies, 7)

Once he was able to differentiate his public perception to whom he actually is as an individual it enabled him to be his authentic self and not someone who he is not.

The collective unconscious of Mr. Ramsay stems from the environment of which he was

The most significant step in Dunstan journey of individuation is acknowledging and embracing his shadow. As a child Dunny learned to suppress his guilt and emotions at a vulnerable age because he did not tell anyone how Mrs. Dempster got hit by a snowball. Throughout his life, he continued to suppress his feelings whether it was good or bad. This was acknowledged when Davies wrote, “I schooled myself since the war days never to speak of my enthusiasm.” (Davies, 164) For the majority of his life,

Dunstan chose to hide his shadow as he was afraid of the repercussions that would occur if he shared his darkest secrets. As a result, he was never able to become whole unless he acknowledged his shadow. For the entirety of his life, Dunstan was concerned about his internal quest for self-recollection but was constantly tempted by superficial things that did not represent him. Faustina is described as Dunstan’s anima archetype, the female opposite of him. This is proven as Dunstan remarked,” She had nothing