Robertson D Essay, Research Paper Character Study of “ World of Wonders ” by Robertson DaviesThe book World of Wonders by Robertson Davies is a character filled book. It is centered around the development of the characters their personalities, histories, moral features, and defects, and most of all, the manner they react with one another. The characters are divided into two chief divisions ; the book is about a group of people who listen to their visionary friend state his life narrative. There are the people in the world in the narrative ( i.e.
the friends of the visionary ) and those who exist in the history of the chief characters and are described in the history of the visionary, Magnus Eisengrim. The characters are farther subdivided by the grade of importance they have to the book. The first three characters are the true chief characters in the book. Dunsten RamsayThis book is seen all through the eyes of Dunsten Ramsay.
Born in Canada of Scottish descent, he is a changeless stabilizing force in the slightly confusing occurrences of Magnus Eisengrim s narrative. This adult male is a low ( in contrast to Magnus ) and conservative figure who does non endeavor for power and celebrity like others in this narrative. He is content listening to the unbelievable narrative of Magnus life, without acquiring disquieted or fazed by the opinionative position from which the narrative is delivered. Nor does he invariably argue with whatever is said. Basically, he on the exterior, he is a comparatively simple and happy adult male, who strives non for control, but for cognition in and out of his field of history. However, as one delves deeper into the character of Ramsay, one begins to understand what truly motivates him.
Just like the remainder of the characters in the narrative, he has had his life-long bickers and statements. He is non as wholly free from shame as one is originally led to believe. His life-long dissension with the character “ Boy Staunton ” sing events taking up to the premature birth of Magnus, escalates to the point where it looks as if he contributed to the self-destructive decease of Staunton. Overall, Dunsten Ramsay is a character good plenty for the point of storyteller, but truly instead tiring with respects to enrichment of the narrative. Liselott VitzliputzliGenerally referred to as Liesl, this opinionated adult female portions laterality of the characters with Magnus. Turning up in Switzerland, with her rich gramps, she acquired a disease doing one to go extremely big.
Through a series of events, she became unmanageable and wholly barbarian until Magnus, managed through much attempt, to reform her while working for her gramps. The character of Liesl exemplifies the outgoing opinionated, yet soft and understanding female. She can at times be highly obstinate, particularly when covering with fundss ( being really rich ) . Liesl is the “ mistress ” of both Dunsten Ramsay, and Magnus.
The three portion a big sign of the zodiac in which Liesl is clearly dominant. Liesl was the administrative side of the Soiree of Illusions, the antic show in which Magnus starred. Liesl tends to be highly blunt, particularly with those she knows really good ( i.e. Ramsay and Eisengrim ) but can move this manner to aliens, or new friends every bit good ( i.e. the manner she acts toward Roland Ingestree ) .
Overall, Liesl is Magnus Eisengrim s female opposite number. She holds the necessary portion of the skeptic and sits at the side, leaping in whenever she feels it of import, non needfully allow. Magnus EisengrimMagnus Eisengrim is the taking character in this book. He is by far the most dominant of the characters due a class of life-shaping events, some good, some awful. He was born in Debtford, Ontario to a spiritual household 80 yearss prematurely ( due to unusual fortunes sing Boy Staunton ) . Early in his life, he was kidnapped by a 2nd rate carnival magician and forced into sexual, physical, and mental entry.
For old ages inside the great graven image Abdullah, working as the mechanism for the con, he practiced dexterity of manus and the fix of tickers. For eight old ages he toiled in this manner until his capturer fell to his morphia dependence. He subsequently through unusual fortunes ended up in the theatre company of Sir John Tresize, who he instantly adopted as an graven image. His portion was to play that of a stunt double as he looked much the same. He learned to travel, speak and act like Sir John. In a sense he became Sir John Tresize, an histrion of great note.
Through this clip, he began to reconstruct his beat-up self-esteem and self image and one time once more became proud of himself. After Sir John s decease, Magnus became a refinisher of old redstem storksbills for a museum. Finally, he ended up working for the gramps of Liesl, mending the aggregation of old-timer playthings which she had smashed in a tantrum of choler and defeat. Through hours of work, Magnus non merely to repair the plaything, but to humanise Liesl. Following this, he and Liesl formed the Soiree of Illusions and formed it into a successful show. Old ages subsequently ( the clip the book is set ) Magnus portrays the function of Robert Houdin in Jurgen Lind s Un Hommage a Robert Houdin.
This finally consequences in him eventually uncovering his life narrative, in an effort to make a subtext to the movie. Magnus is an highly obstinate, strong-minded adult male. He enjoys the humiliation of others and so will maul them wolfishly and oppress them into entry. The character of Eisengrim is non that of a nice kindly old magician but that of a really refined and proud histrion. Through a series of these metaphorical feeding of people ( intending wholly devouring their character, and taking all the traits to be one s ain ) , Magnus character is multi-faceted. He is Sir John Tresize ; moving as a baronial British histrion ; he is Mungo Fetch, the name given to him while he was in servitude to Willard the mediocre magician ; he is Paul Dempster, a spiritual male child from a little state town in Canada.
All this leads to doing Magnus Eisengrim a really complicated character. Overall, Magnus Eisengrim is an highly convincing dominant character with a really good portraiture of one with such experiences would turn out to be. The three merely mentioned are the major characters in the book. The narrative is centered around their reactions to the happenings in the narrative.
These three characters are farther developed by their relationships to the back uping characters in the narrative. Roland IngestreeThis is the adult male behind the fundss of “ Un Hommage a Robert Houdin. ” He is a superb moneyman and a really disagreeable, obstinate adult male. Throughout the narrative, him and Magnus have a raging statement sing Magnus relationship to Sir John Tresize. Ingestree is able to see what truly occurred between Magnus and Sir John and Magnus does non like it. They further disagree sing certain events in which Ingestree took portion during Magnus clip with the theatre group.
Magnus powerful side is most clearly apparent in his traffics with Ingestree and they invariably fight. This character brings out the most hostile reactions from Magnus as Ingestree is himself a wolf ( non rather to the grade of Magnus or Boy Staunton ) . Whenever these work forces clash, it is up to Liesl or Jurgen Lind to set a halt to the wrangle. Jurgen LindJurgen Lind is the pacificist ( along with Ramsay ) in this group of characters. He seeks merely the addition of his cognition and apprehension of the star of his movie and the motivation forces behind his public presentation as Robert Houdin. Jurgen Lind is a great adult male of forbearance and is a adult male slow to choler, yet speedy to move upon his choler.
Once he has been set off, the piquing party can anticipate to be shut up wholly or confront the wrath of an even more fired up Finnish movie manager. Lind frequently steps in when Ingestree and Magnus go at it and manages to convert the two to halt their squabbling and let Magnus to go on his disclosures. Kingohvn ( no first name given ) Kinghovn has small reference in the book. He is the absent-minded obsessive in this narrative. He knows and cares merely about illuming and related subjects and how to make effects on the screen. He worked closely with Lind and Eisengrim on “ Un Hommage a Robert Houdin.
” Kinghovn frequently blurts into the conversation with some semi-relevant comment, normally holding to make with lighting. This can frequently take to the chilling of the piques of the characters involved in the latest difference by giving them clip to see what they are stating. The concluding set of characters to be mentioned are those from the narrative of Magnus Eisengrim s life. I merely feel it necessary to depict of the people mentioned in the subtext of the movie. Sir John TresizeSir John Tresize was one of the formost histrions of his twenty-four hours.
He dazzled audiences with his unbelievable ability to portray the knightly hero. However as his manner began to melt to newer more popular types of playing, Sir John maintained his stance and held it until he retired. Sir John was one of the most influential people in the life of Magnus Eisengrim and the first Magnus devoured. As Magnus learned to be Sir John on the phase, Magnus besides became Sir John in world. Finally, after a difficult misinterpretation sing a testimonial to Sir John s teacher, he died ( Ingestree speculates that this was due to Magnus eating him, and I tend to hold ) . Sir John was the prototype of the strong, well-bred knight of old.
He maintained his stature in existent life every bit good as on the phase far past the clip when an ordinary adult male would hold failed. His eldritch ability to measure a state of affairs and recognize what was traveling on and what he should make allowed him to convey his message to the audience like none other. Boy StauntonThe character of Boy Staunton is non mentioned ( except briefly at the beginning ) until really far through the book. He is really non mentioned to Lind, Ingestree, and Kinghovn in the inferior, yet his self-destructive decease is debated by Liesl, Ramsay, and Magnus. When Boy Staunton was a kid, he threw a sweet sand verbena with a stone in it at Dunsten Ramsay and missed.
The rock/snowball ended up hitting Mrs. Dempster ( Magnus mother ) doing her to go mentally sick and to hold Magnus prematurely. Ramsay has ne’er forgiven Boy Staunton for this act and to the terminal of the book carries his contempt for him. A life-long struggle between the two is eventually epitomized at the disclosure that Ramsay didn T unduly influence the self-destructive decease of Boy Staunton. The character of Staunton is that of another wolf. He himself devoured those in the manner to his expected way.
This caused his relationship with Magnus to be highly tense as they were both seeking to oppress each other into entry. They invariably grapple in an effort to find who shall predominate. In the terminal it is Magnus who outlives Staunton and Magnus successfully wins their double. Overall, I have found the characters in this book incredibly converting.
The relationships which Davies creates are merely to be created by a maestro such as Davies. The intertwining ends and frights of the characters create an incredibly intense and converting novel. Eisengrim, Liesl, and Ramsay, and all those back uping them, are apt to walk right off the page into world.
