Abstract
This paper examines how although "King Lear" by William Shakespeare, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Fifth Business" by Robertson Davies, are all very different works from different times and places, the main characters all possess a similar downfall or fatal flaw: They cannot distinguish true love from false love. It attempts to show how as a result, King Lear loses his kingdom and his life and how Nick Carraway, the narrator of "The Great Gatsby", gets involved with a dangerous, immoral crowd and undergoes a personal struggle with his own morals and lifestyle. It also looks at how Dunstan Ramsay, the narrator of "Fifth Business, tells the tale of his life, throughout which he suffers because of his inability to let go of a woman from his past.

From the Paper
"In the Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway goes through his own hardships and makes his own mistakes. Most of these, like those of Lear, stem from his inability to distinguish between true and false love. He has an infatuation for Daisy Buchanan (one shared by many characters in the novel), and begins an affair with Jordan Baker, a cynical golfer. The problem, of course, is that he mistakes the infatuation or lust he has in the presence of these two women for real emotion, for real love. Because of this, he believes that they care for him, in some way at least, and that they are good people. As he finds out later, however, this is not the case."

Tags:cordelia, dunstan, nick, carraway, ramsay

Abstract
This is an outline for the story, "Fifth Business" that gives the introduction, two main body parts, and the conclusion. The paper discusses how the theme of secular and spiritual can be seen in the characters of Dunstan Ramsey, Diana Marfleet, and Mary Dempster representing the spiritual characters and Boy Staunton, Paul Dempster, Liesl, Leola, Reverend Amasa Dempster, Mrs. Ramsay representing the secular characters in "Fifth Business".

From the Paper
"The theme of secular and spiritual can be seen in the characters of Dunstan Ramsey, Diana Marfleet, and Mary Dempster representing the spiritual characters and Boy Staunton, Paul Dempster, Liesl, Leola, Reverend Amasa Dempster, Mrs. Ramsay representing the secular characters in "Fifth Business". In the story, "Fifth Business", by David Robertson, the theme of spiritual and secular, or good vs. evil can be seen throughout the story by representation of the different characters. The beginning of the story is about two boys throwing snowballs, but one of the..."

Tags:secular, spiritual, characters

Abstract
The author analyzes and evaluates characters that reveal evidence of a successful life despite their childhood instability. The paper compares the characters of Dunstan Ramsay and Paul Dempster, both had childhood instability but as adults led a successful and fulfilling life, to the character Boy Staunton, who had the perfect childhood but grew up and became an unstable adult.

From the Paper
"Not only does Dunny suffer from a guilty conscience, but also violence and abuse. He refers to a scene where his mother is beating him, she pursued me around the kitchen, slashing me with the whip until she broke me down and I cried. She cried too, hysterically, and beat me harder, storming about my impedance, my want of respect for her, of my increasing oddity and intellectual arrogance-not that she used those words, but I do not intend to put down what she actually said-until at last her fury was spent? I can still feel that hour's misery in its perfect desolation, if I am fool enough to call it up in my mind." "

Tags:childhood, lifetime, struggles, success, characters, adults, unstable, adult, abuse