Why did Martin Guerre leave his wife?

Why did Martin Guerre leave his wife?

The marriage was childless for eight years until a son was born. Accused of stealing grain from his father, Martin abruptly disappeared in 1548. Canon law did not allow his abandoned wife to remarry.

How does the wife of Martin Guerre end?

At the end of the novel, her husband, the real Martin, returns, and Bertrande has to make her moral decision: does she reveal that it is not the same man, thus subjecting herself to a lifetime of misery, or does she continue the lie?

What was Bertrande de Rols Martin’s wife like?

She had tried to fashion her life as best she could, using all the leeway and imagination she had as a woman. But she was also proud of her honor and her virtue and was, as she would say later in court, God-fearing. She wanted to live as a mother and family woman at the center of village society.

Was Bertrande a dupe or a willing accomplice in the imposture?

Davis claims that Bertrande de Rols played a “double game” as Arnaud’s willing accomplice and alleged victim. She can propose those things because there is evidence in Martin’s and Bertrande’s actions. Martin left Artigat and Bertrande refused to denounce Arnaud at his trial.

What happened to Jean de Coras in the end?

He was convicted and sentenced to death for having served the Prince of Condé in 1568, and was murdered in prison following the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in 1572.

What is the argument in The Return of Martin Guerre?

In his essay, “The Refashioning of Martin Guerre,” Finlay argues that Davis has gone beyond the evidence to transform Bertrande from a dupe to a willing accomplice. He claims Davis is guilty of an excess of invention and does not respect the sovereignty of the sources.

Where is the wife of Martin Guerre set?

It’s 1539, in Gascony, outside the village of Artigues, and the families Guerre and de Rols are celebrating the marriage of their eleven-year-old children, Martin and Bertrande, betrothed in the cradle.

Is the wife of Martin Guerre a true story?

True Story, Fictionalised This novella was written by an American novelist and published in 1941. It is based on a startling court case in 16th century France, that has been told and adapted many times since, including the 1993 film starring Jodie Foster and Richard Gere, Sommersby, which set it in the US Civil War.

Why did Arnaud fake Martin?

As he grew up, he had a reputation for getting into unsavory entanglements with drinking, gambling, and prostitutes. His large appetites garnered the nickname of “Pansette”—the belly. At some point, he evidently discovered that Martin had abandoned his family and inheritance and decided to impersonate Martin.

How long was Martin Guerre gone for?

In 1549 a young peasant named Martin Guerre disappeared from the small village of Artigat in the foothills of the Pyrenees in southwestern France. He left behind his wife of seven years, Bertrande de Rols, a young son, his parents and other members of a large, comparatively prosperous family.

Who was coras in Martin Guerre?

Jean de Coras
Jean de Coras was a lawyer and university professor who served as a judge when the case of Martin Guerre was tried at the Parlement of Toulouse, the most powerful court near the village of Artigat.

Is The Return of Martin Guerre a true story?

miller, and Natalie Zemon Davis’s The Return of Martin Guerre (1983), a scholarly treatment of a famous true story about an imposter who took over the farm (and bed) of a substantial peasant in 16th-century France.

Why was Bertrande de Rols married to Martin Guerre?

Bertrande was the daughter of a wealthy and prominent Artigat family. Her marriage to Martin Guerre when she was only a young girl was designed to solidify the alliance between the de Rols and Guerre families, demonstrating that women in sixteenth-century rural France often had little control over their lives and destinies.

How old was Martin Guerre when he got married?

At about the age of 14, Martin was married to Bertrande de Rols, daughter of a rather wealthy family in Arigat. She would have been around the same age. When eight years passed and the couple still had not had a child, it was decided that Martin was under a curse.

What was the relationship between Martin Guerre and his father?

It also determines the pattern of relationships between Martin Guerre and his father and Martin and Bertrande de Rols that will have a significant impact upon the married couple’s life. During his father’s lifetime, Martin remains “legally a minor” and subservient to the “absolute head of the house” and the “cap d’hostal”.

Why did Bertrande refuse to divorce her husband?

In Davis’s account, Bertrande’s attitude was characterized by “shrewd realism” about how to maneuver in a patriarchal world. For example, refusing to divorce Martin during the eight-year period when they had no children gave her the freedom to enjoy a childhood with her sisters-in-law and the privileges of being a married woman.