![]() If there is any general statement to be made about guilt and its impact on the lives of the characters in both “Fifth Business” and “The Manticore”, it is that reconciliation is essentially before true identity can be revealed. What emerges by the end of “Fifth Business” is a pattern of experience, guilt, and then reconciliation that resurfaces throughout the following book in the series, “The Manticore”. ![]() ![]() While Dunstan attempts to reconcile past events with the overwhelming guilt that encompasses much of his identity, other characters such as Paul and Boy Staunton attempt to deal with their guilt and negative childhood experiences as well, albeit in quite different ways. As this essay will argue, although nearly all of the main characters have ties to this theme, in “Fifth Business”, Dunstan is most significantly affected by it and even more importantly, the guilt that stems from events in youth seem to shape the entire course his life takes. ![]() Guilt stemming from traumatic childhood experiences is a theme that runs throughout both The Fifth Business and “The Manticore”, both by Robertson Davies. ![]()
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