The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Davis
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.
The main focus of the story is on Bertrande de Rols and her place in sixteenth century society, especially as a wife. At the age of nine, Bertrande was married to Martin Guerre who was a young peasant of Basque heritage. For several years, the two have trouble consummating their marriage. In 1548, Martin runs away from his village of Artigat, France to join the Spanish army, leaving his twenty-two year old wife Bertrande and a young son. After eight years of living in quiet desperation, an imposter Arnaud du Tilh nicknamed "Pansette," shows up in the village in 1548, in the guise of Martin Guerre. It is no wonder that Bertrande would finally find fulfillment of her hopes and dreams of a better life with the new Martin. The couple's marital bliss unravels the day Arnaud argues with his uncle, Pierre Guerre, over his desire to sell off some of his ancestral land. Under Basque tradition and custom, a man is never to sell his ancestral land this causes Pierre to be suspicious of the identity of his nephew and he decides to sue Arnaud as an imposter.
From a modern day point of view, one would deem it not viable to confuse the identity of Martin Guerre and Arnaud du Tilh for any great...
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...t to the accusations brought under the new Martin Guerre. Jean de Coras was proven to have had Protestant ties, and was eventually killed for them. (100) However, he was also a very learned, educated, and passionate man with an upstanding career in law and, after the case of Martin Guerre, the literary world. The idea that someone of so high a rank embraced the new religion shows that its influence at the time cannot be ignored.
Overall the book is very interesting and what makes Davis' book special is her concise presentation of everyday life in the early renaissance. The journey through village life, village institutions, a feeling for what businesses the people ran, learn of legal procedures, of "dangerous new ideas" on marriage from the as well as inconvenient old ones. Through this journey we learn that life back then is not as different as our lives are today.
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.
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Bertrande de Rols was married young to Martin Guerre, an adolescent, active boy who hated his planned future in a town called Artigat. Their arranged marriage was short-lived with complications from Martin being impotent and pressures from the villagers. Shortly after the birth of their first son, Sanxi, Martin left his family and future behind.
Many people say that the metal of a man is found in his ability to keep his ideals in spite of anything that life can through at you. If a man is found to have done these things he can be called a hero. Through a lifelong need to accept responsibility for all living things, Robert Ross defines his heroism by keeping faith with his ideals despite the betrayal, despair and tragedy he suffers throughout the course of The Wars by Timothy Findley.
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There are still fairly serious discrepancies between Davis’s actual historical monograph and the depiction in the film. Most importantly, we see the trail in Toulouse in the film opened for the public while the fact is that “sixteenth-century criminal justice is always secret; there are no spectators until the sentence is read.” Moreover, the monograph positions Bertrande as being opposed to having an imposter for a husband as she openly rejected him as soon as she realised that he was not Martin Guerre. In the film, Bertrande likely already knew of the fake Martin Guerre and is collaborating with the imposter out of a dire need for a husband, and also out of love.
In The Return of Martin Guerre, Bertrande de Rols marries Martin Guerre at a fairly young age. They struggle together, dealing with years of “sexual impotency”. Finally they have a child together. One day, Martin leaves and does not come back. However, Arnaud de Tilh
By the sixteenth century humanism had spread from Italy to France and throughout the rest of Europe. In the area of Toulouse where Martin Guerre was from, humanism was initiated by the powerful family of the Dufaurs. The humanist concepts of the glory of man and, self-fashioning are present in the story of Martin Guerre. The story magnifies the effect of humanism and it’s affect on small towns. Martin Guerre’s return to his hometown after eight years of absence initiates controversy within the town, which leads to a court case. Martin Guerre’s wife and family immediately accepted that the man was indeed Martin Guerre and accepted him into the town life. Eventually conflict arose and Martin Guerre’s uncle contested that this is the real Martin Guerre. With the revelation of the court case with the discovery that the man was Arnaud Du Tilh when the real Martin Guerre returns there is the question of his wife’s faithfulness. Arnaud Du Tilh perpetuates the humanist ideals of self-fashioning through re-establishing his identity and consequently moving between hierarchical ranks. Arnaud Du Tilh’s reputation in his previous town was based on his drinking and gambling and he re-establishes his identity and reconstructs Martin Guerre’s tarnished reputation, which was already tainted before he had left the town. Arnaud Du Tilh as Martin Guerre becomes virtuous
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