“The Wife of Martin Guerre” by Janet Lewis is about the gender inequality prevalent in our society at that time. It depicts the hard life of a woman in the patriarchal feudal system through Bertrande de Rols’ position as a female and her defiance against it. This is a tale of tragedy faced by women in our society; Bertrande`s role was torn between her loyalty and love. The main theme involved here is loyalty and there are some sub-themes also like family roles, love, and marriage, betrayal, adultery, male and female roles, sexuality, identity theft, gender injustice, punishment, and forgiveness. When blamed for committing a sin against her husband and God, Bertrande goes against society and rebels against the …show more content…
whole system to make herself right in the eyes of God. But these actions put her family and community to shame, and jeopardise the joy at the return of Martin. Bertrande want to be right in front of God, not in the eyes of society, she is torn between the norms of the society, her sense of justice, and her love. “The Wife of Martin Guerre” is based on a famous story of a court case in mid-16th century France, it starts with the marriage of Bertrande and Martin, and both married as children, this marriage was decided without Bertrande`s consent “not known until the evening before” (pg 6) . This marriage was decided for them, two generations ago, it is kind of deal to ensure prosperity between the families and for the purpose of economic considerations, marriage was not a union of two souls. Nobody cared about the young bride during the marriage celebration, Martin is a complete stranger to Bertrande prior to the wedding so she is scared and frightened at the first sight and she didn`t knew about her relationship with him, there is no love and affection between them. Martin Guerre suddenly disappears from the town after a decade of marriage to Bertrande. Arnaud du Thil, a man resembling Guerre, arrives in town around eight years later and is accepted by Guerre’s wife and many of the town`s people as the missing Guerre. After a while a news spread that the real Guerre is alive and a trial takes place. During the trial the real Guerre returns, and the supposed imposter Arnaud is executed. The film “Sommersby" is based on the story of “The Wife of Martin Guerre” that has been unsuccessfully changed to the period of the American Civil War It has many similarities with the original story, the plot revolves around the deception which is hard to believe because it was set at the time of the War, and there is a possibility that a man might be changed by the impact of war. If we think about it now it seems impossible that war can change a person so much. The film is a remake of an old French film “The Return of Martin Guerre,” from the early 1980s, where a rural woman waits many years for her husband to return from the war. When he finally does return, he seems a completely changed man. “You ain't acting yourself, Jack”. (Sommersby). He is kind, gentle, a better lover, and she eventually forgets the husband she was fearful of. The Jodie Foster-Richard Gere starred made so many major changes on Guerre's story line, so comparing them doesn`t make much sense. Since The Wife of Martin Guerre is based on an actual case and Martin Guerre was a real person, the movie “Sommersby” tried to connect with the historical facts and sentiments of people; it tries to make a touch with the audience in such a way that they can relate themselves with the characters. The final scenes in the movie are full of suspense like any courtroom thriller; this aspect of the story is overplayed in Sommersby. Set during a time of turmoil after the Civil War the remake makes its hero a little too much of an outstandingly versatile. Not only this returned soldier Jack Sommersby (Gere) a better husband and a good lover to his wife, Laurel (Foster), and also a good father to his son, he also takes his town back to prosperity with his idea of socialist farming techniques “I'll give you all a piece of my land, each and every one of you.I'll give you tools, fertilizer...and you keep half of the crop when it comes in”. (Sommersby), and supported the black population. The characters of The Wife of Martin Guerre are relevant even now in 21st century because they are, actually, quite universal: they have their weaknesses, limitations, and fear in their heart, they also break the rules, make mistakes, and do not follow the behavior expected from them.
“Bertrande sees a stranger and imagines Martin; she is filled with emotion and then disappointment” (pg30)For example Martin didn`t followed the expected roles imposed upon him as the elder son of a family, he breaks the social norm, runs away from the family, abandons his wife, and disappears. This is very similar to many modern day stories and audience can relate to it well, the characters are all realistic and have similar emotions as any other person in the modern world. Many of us have gone through heartbreak, depression, sensuality, the need to escape, the need to do something different or mischievous, and the curiosity to break the rules. The characters in The Wife of Martin Guerre take us through these emotions, and allow us to analyze their weaknesses, and compare them with our …show more content…
own. The character of Bertrande changed a lot during the course of whole story, initially she is depicted as the ultimate submissive wife...but then she becomes stronger, a sort of a she-devil side when she actually falls for the intruder that tries to pass for her husband. Loyalty also plays a big role here: the poor woman who not only gets abandoned by her husband, Martin, but who also has to deal with the entrance of a new imposter, claiming to be Martin, whom Martin's own family decided to treat as the real Martin and moreover her husband's own family tells her to accept the intruder and even share the bed with him. Fortunately for Bertrande, she found joy (both love and apparently sexual satisfaction) in this man. The situation changed, when the real Martin Guerre comes back, Bertrande's loyalty comes under question mark and she is in a dilemma to choose between the man she actually married, and the man she loves now. The return of Martin places Bertrande as “answerable for the dishonour that has befallen [him]” (pg 91), The character of Arnaud de Tilh is the most charming one, because his character is a mix of the rogue and ultimate romancer.
Bertrande got attracted to him and there is something in him, which makes her quickly accept the family's request to take him in as a husband. Moreover, he is a gentleman, great lover, good father, well educated, multi-talented also have much more tenderness and sensuality to have Bertrande's love at the end. Arnaud charmed the villagers and worked with them for their prosperity. He gave Bertrande the happiness and joy of marriage, which Martin had never given her. In the end Martin returns and Arnaud is executed due to the consequences of his lies and for being the imposter of Martin. It is a big loss for Bertrande, “but when hate and love have together exhausted the soul, the body seldom endure for long.” (93), the trial finds her an adulteress and unfaithful towards Martin. This is unfair because Martin`s family asked her accept the intruder. Bertrande is simply trying to do the right thing but has to suffer due to unwritten rules of our cruel
society. Both the novel “The Wife of Martin Guerre” and the movie “Sommersby” ended on a sad note and achieve the task of using multiple perspectives to raise specific social issues. Bertande`s role is a classic example of how women were treated in the 16th century. Bertrande`s tragedy represents a classic moral dilemma as she has to make choices between moral obligations and the truth. Lewis also strongly exploits the ever-changing battle between self-truth and the truth found in faith and religion with Bertrande`s battle against the cure. Even Sommersby deal with all these issues, what makes Sommersby different is its melodramatic intelligence, which is not a paradox: The movie has a different ending instead of the usual smiley-face Hollywood windup that actually fits the tale; Sommersby plays like a quiet revolution. There are so many unanswered questions and they are really means to us. The main questions are: why women can good deeds done by a person outweighs the fraud of pretending to be somebody you're not even if that somebody was a total dummy? More crucially, does a man's identity lie in his name or in his actions?
Martin Guerre from Artigat had left his wife Bertrande and their son Sanxi and their inheritance to seek adventure in Spain as a mercenary. After leaving his family for nearly nine years a man claiming to be Martin returns to the village to claim his wife and land. Bertrande accepts the man as being her husband and they have another child together. Martin has a dispute with Pierre over the management of the family estate and ownership of the rents from Matins land during his absence. During their dispute a passing by veteran had claimed that "Martin" is not who he claims to be. He said that Martin had lost a leg at the battle of Saint Quentin and that he really was Arnaud de Tihl from a neighboring village. Both Martin and Arnaud had soldered together in the war, where they had became friends. The Guerre family was very divided over the story. Pierre and his sons-in-law believe the soldier's story, and Pierres daughters and Bertrande continue to believe "Martin" is Martin. As their ca...
Christine De Pizan’s work in The Book of The City of Ladies pioneers a new genre of feminist literature that exposes a time period from the perspective of its female population. Due to this, De Pizan justifiably earns the title of a revolutionary author. However, to say that De Pizan revolutionized the conditions of women in the medieval ages and onward is an overstatement. In her book, De Pizan critiques sexist arguments in order to defend women against misogyny. The change that De Pizan presented in medieval culture was gradual because she was attempting to amend people’s perspectives on women rather than offer any institutional rectifications. She worked to establish that women can be just as mighty as men, and thus, they are not innately inferior. However, her goal was not to ensure that women have equal access to exercise and pursue their virtuous roles. Therefore, if observed
The Return of Martin Guerre, written by Natalie Zemon Davis, is the tale of a court case that takes place in sixteenth century France. Martin Guerre is a peasant who deserted his wife and family for many years. While Martin Guerre is gone, a man named Arnaud du Tilh arrives at Martin’s village and claims to be Martin Guerre. Bertrande, who is Guerre’s wife, Guerre’s sisters, and many of the villagers, accepts the imposter. After almost three years of being happily married, Bertrande takes the fraud to court under pressure of Pierre Guerre, her stepfather and Guerre’s brother. Arnaud du Tilh is almost declared innocent, but the real Martin Guerre appears in the courthouse. Throughout this tale, many factors of the peasant life are highlighted. The author gives a very effective and detailed insight to a peasant’s life during the time of Martin Guerre. Davis does a successful job of portraying the peasant lifestyle in sixteenth century France by accentuating the social, cultural, and judicial factors of everyday peasant life.
Nevertheless, Bertrande knows these self-centred intentions, when put into action, will ultimately be reflected by the displeasure and distress of her children and the Mesnie. ‘I am destroying the happiness of my family. And why? … to free myself from the deceit which was consuming and killing me.’ Bertrande’s strong desire to free herself from the cunning of Arnaud du Tilh inevitably brought considerations of the Mesnie and her children to mind. ‘Her affection for her kindred rose about her in a wall implacable as stone’ as she was ‘condemned to solitude’ knowing the hurt her accusations against Arnaud inflicted upon the mesnie. Furthermore, the drawn out process of the trial brought ‘heart-breaking uncertainty,’ with Lewis clearly indicating through this use of language Bertrande’s awareness of the affect of her actions upon others.
Therefore, I still have found that Bertrande Guerre truly believed that Arnaud du Tilh was her husband, making her an unknowing player in the entire charade. Natalie Davis made the point that Bertrande must have known that the new Martin was an impostor due to their sexual relationship and the differences therein (110). However, this point is hard to believe due to the fact that Bertrande and Martin were married for nine years without having intercourse, and when they finally did, it was in order to conceive their future son, Sanxi (Finlay, 558). Only a few months after Sanxi was born, Martin disappeared for over eight years, which is a long time for a woman to remember the specific details of a sexual relationship that couldn’t have lasted for more than a few months (Finlay, 558). Even if Bertrande had noticed a difference in the sexual relationship, she would have doubted her recollections, not having any kind of proof or true memories of those sexual experiences (Finlay, 558).
The Return of Martin Guerre written by Natalie Davis gives the audience a rare glimpse into the world of peasant life in sixteenth century France. It also allows a modern day audience a chance to examine and to compare their own identities and questions of self. What makes the story so interesting to modern day viewers and readers is how relevant the story and the people in it are to our own times. This story is about a history of everyday people rather than royalty and generals, history's usual subjects.
Traditional female characteristics and female unrest are underscored in literary works of the Middle Ages. Although patriarchal views were firmly established back then, traces of female contempt for such beliefs could be found in several popular literary works. Female characters’ opposition to societal norms serves to create humor and wish- fulfillment for female and male audiences to enjoy. “Lanval” by Marie De France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer both show subversion of patriarchal attitudes by displaying the women in the text as superior or equal to the men. However, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” also incorporates conventional societal ideas by including degradation of women and mistreatment of a wife by her husband.
Secondly, the viewpoint of the victim illustrates the perceived despair and loneliness caused by the purposeful miscommunication between men and women. Lastly, when looking through the imagined perspective of the thoughtless male tricksters, the reader is shown the heartlessness of men. After this reader’s final consideration, the main theme in each of the presented poems is that both authors saw women as victims of a male-dominated society. Works Cited:..
The central characters, setting, and tone of the story help create the central idea of the psychological and internal desires of a woman. Through the view of the central characters it is established that the lawyer’s wife wants more than her average day and is searching for more to life than the daily routine of a house wife. Jean Varin is believed to be the desire she is looking for; however, she is not fulfilled or happy with the outcome of her choices. The setting and the tone reveal the psychological need for the wife to have an adventurous, lavish, and opulent lifestyle that she feels can only be achieved in Paris.
Naivety as well as the longing to fit into society with a loving man and stable, well-to-do peasant family deceived an honorable woman. Bertrande de Rols’ young marriage had difficulties from the start. With the guidance from family, the Catholic Church and Basque customs, Bertrande attempted to follow the sixteenth-century expectations for women, but was misled by her own fear, loneliness and catastrophic past.
In today’s world, men and women are perceived equally by the society. In the past, authority and control define men while women are given the characteristic of helplessness. Men are able to get hold of high positions while women usually are subservient to them. In movies, we would usually see women portray roles that are degrading due to the stereotypical notions they associate with this gender group. Moulin Rouge, a movie set during the 1900s narrates the story of a courtesan woman, Satine, as she undergoes hardships to earn money, experiences love but unfortunately, due to her irrational choices, faces tragic consequences at the end. Satine is a symbol of how women are being treated by the society during the era before post-feminism, where men have superiority over women. As the plot develops, Satine transforms from a worthless prostitute to someone who is courageous and willing to face her fears in order to attain her aspirations. Psychoanalyst theory and feminist analysis are apparent throughout the film. The male gaze, fantasy and feminism are three topics that will be covered in depth in this essay through relating it to the movie.
When women are kept in their classical role of mother and caretaker, all is well and their lives are simple. Children relate positively to their mothers in this typical setting; while Dantés was in prison, during a time of distress, he remembered something his mother had done for him. For example, Dumas writes, “He remembered the prayers his mother had taught him and found meanings in them which he had formerly been unaware.” (41). Mothers teach their children to the best of their ability, evidenced in Dantés, as well as when Caderousse says Mercédès is instructing her son, Albert. It is in these moments that a mother’s love, compassion, and necessity are revealed. Lives are calm and enriched as long as women are in their niche. This includes non-maternal nurturing roles, for example, Mercédès attentiveness to Dantés father and Valentine’s special ability to care for Nortier. This loyalty is valued and shown as essential for the stability of life. Though The Count of Monte Cristo depicted women as best suited to the home, they intermittently stepped further out of that r...
The relationship shared by Pierre and Helene is best described as a lustful charade. It is no coincidence that Pierre, one of the most introspective characters in the novel, first marries a shallow, inwardly-ugly adulterer. His first recorded attitude towards Helene is one of admira...
Le féminisme est clairement un thème important dans "Les Belles Images". Laurence, le protagoniste féminin subit une crise d'identité, comme elle commence à devenir de plus en plus consciente de sa position dans le monde et dans sa famille comme une femme. "Les Belles Images" dépeint l'éveil de Laurence comme elle est apparemment arrachés de sa complaisance et devient conscience très vive de l'état stagnant de sa famille et de sa vie. Bien que depuis l'extérieur, Laurence semble être l'épitomé de l'idéal féministe de la femme nouvelle, avec sa carrière prospère, son amant et son mode de vie bourgeois, à l'intérieur, tout est train de s'effondrer. C'est la fille de Laurence Catherine qui agit comme un déclencheur pour cet éveil C'est la fille de Laurence Catherine qui agit comme un déclencheur pour ce réveil quand elle pose la question «pourquoi est-ce qu'on existe ?» (23). La question de Catherine Laurence fait examiner à elle-même et sa vie. Cette examen de conscience résultats dans Laurence devenir désabusés par les hommes de sa vie; son mari, son amant et son père. Dans son livre "Beauvoir et ses soeurs: La politique de l'corps des femmes en France", Sandra Reineke affirme que cette désillusion avec les hommes de sa vie, représente le rejet féministe de changement et de continuité dans la France moderne (27). Le père de Laurence symbolise l'ancien mode de vie de la bourgeoisie et Jean-Claude symbolise le nouveau mode de vie techno-bourgeoisie, qui ne sont dans l'intérêt de la femme. À la fin du roman, Laurence a résignée au fait qu'il ne soit trop tard pour elle de changer sa vie, mais elle est prête à prendre en charge la vie de ses filles et de les protéger de l'oppression des hommes:
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.