Fifth Business Patriarchy

Throughout all of history, examples of a domineering male are significantly prevalent and easily identifiable. In Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman and Robertson Davies Fifth Business, plots, subplots and the relationships between characters, both major and minor, work to establish the motif of male supremacy and patriarchy. In Fifth Business, Dunstable Ramsay and his childhood friend, Percy Boyd Staunton, each approached relationships differently. However, each approach was aimed at the maintenance of independence and control over ones own life. Quite similarly, in Death of a Salesman, the men of the Loman family, Happy, Biff and William, treated the women in their lives with little to no respect, objectifying them and treating them as a
Although the depiction of strong women is made in both works, the motif of a male-dominated, patriarchal-structured society is formidably exhibited throughout.

Although modern women are slowly attaining equal status with men in the workforce, and throughout society generally, the women in Fifth Business and Death of a Salesman are nearly always portrayed as weak and incapable beings. Robertson Davies portrayal of Mrs. Dempster as a timid and flighty woman foreshadows her future behavior and eventual mental and physical demise. While walking down the street in the village with her husband, Amasa Dempster, one winter evening, Mrs. Dempster is hit by a stray snowball thrown by Dunstables friend, Percy. Upon being hit, she gave a cry and, clinging to her husband, slipped to the ground (Davies 8) and burst into nervous tears (9). At this, Amasa demanded to borrow Dunstables sled in order to drag his wife home. The physical dependence of Mrs. Dempster on Amasa in this incident alone, institutes the motif of male dominance using a weak female presence. She clung to her husband in the hopes that he would hold her up and, once shed met the ground, she relies on him to literally drag her down the
Through situations of alleged rape, affair and womanizing, generally, the men of Fifth Business socially paralyze the women around them. Percy Boyd Staunton is the epitome of a womanizer as he cheats on his wife, Leola, with numerous women from the city and does so with no apparent feelings of guilt. In addition, he brags about his affairs to Dunstable, who was well aware of Percys fondness of the sexual pleasure a woman could give him (Davies 225). Percys affairs were never rooted in intellect or emotion, only the physical gratification that could be provided. As well, Davies description surrounding the possible rape of Mrs. Dempster by a tramp, suggests vulnerability in her and an unwillingness to defend herself. Though Mr. Dempster was determined that his wife was taken advantage of, she herself admits that she agreed to intercourse with the tramp because [the tramp] was very civil and he wanted it so badly (45). The relation of civility to the tramp by Mrs. Dempster suggests that she was able to see the incivility of the rest of the men in Deptford. In much the same way as Percy Boyd Staunton, Happy and Biff treat women as merely sexual beings, with very little respect. Early in the play, in one of the first conversations between the boys, Biff and Happy discuss all of the women theyve been with and Happy relates a story to Biff. Happy tells him that that girl Charlotte I was