In The Return of Martin Guerre, one man's impersonation of an heir from an influential peasant family in the French village of Artigat ultimately leads to his public execution. The tale of Arnaud du Tilh alias Pansette (meaning "the belly") is full of ironies, not the least of which is his death at the hands of a man who by some accounts harbored some admiration for the quick-witted peasant. Set in a time and place where a hardly discernible line separated proper behavior from that which was grounds
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
danger. In the Return of Martin Guerre, Guerre himself was a prime example of the lack of individualism in the community. Clearly, there is a dilemma between collectivism and individualism within this French 16th century society. In the society of Artigat, religion was the determining
Filmed in 1982 and based in 16th century France, The Return of Martin Guerre is the story of a man named Arnaud, who was almost able to trick a women, her family, and a village that he was a man named Martin Guerre. Martin Guerre was a man living as a lower class citizen in France. He and his family worked on their property that they owned, to make a living and provide for themselves. He was married to a woman named Betrande and had a son with her. One afternoon after being accused of stealing by
In early modern Europe, the 16th century presented a turning point in history where identities and values were challenged. Given the fluctuating state of identities, could the crisis of power centralization precipitate skepticism on the heroes of The Return of Martin Guerre? Can the monumental epistemological changes of the time (e.g. The Reformations and Counter Reformation, the rise of Protestantism, rational individualization in thought) be adequately conveyed or fully reflected using micro-histories
families (Davis 17). Bertrande and Martin were not interested in each other, which caused their relationship to be so unfulfilling that the village began to humiliate them for their lack of conceiving a child (Davis 20). Bertrande also had to face Artigat customs, which were made in favor of men. For example, the marriage contract was based on the husband’s wishes and a woman expected to be “a good farm wife” (Davis 31). Despite the terrible experience with Martin, she refused “to have her marriage
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
In her essay, entitled “Women’s History,” American historian Joan W. Scott wrote, “it need hardly be said that feminists’ attempts to expose ‘male biases’ or ‘masculine ideology’ embedded in historical writing have often met with ridicule or rebuttal of as expressions of ‘ideology.’” Scott’s essay discusses the efforts of female historians to both integrate themselves into the history disciples and their struggle to add and assimilate female perspectives, influences, and undertakings into the overall
When Karl Marx wrote “the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” he interpreted the historical stage and his writing of history as parts of a theatre: he writes; “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak twice. He forgot to add the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Caussidiere for Danton, Louis Blanc for Robespierre, the Montagne of 1848 to 1851 for the Montagne of 1793 to 1795, the nephew for the uncle. And the same caricature
follow the sixteenth-century expectations for women, but was misled by her own fear, loneliness and catastrophic past. 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. The “beautiful young woman” began
The film also demonstrated a clear departure from Davis’s historical evidence when Bertrande is not presented as a plaintiff for long in the trial against the imposter Martin. In the film trial, unlike Davis’s account, Bertrande’s double role is not depicted. Instead, Bertrande always backs the imposter as her true husband throughout the trial. “Bertrande never once accuses Arnaud during the trail and she accepts Martin only at the last minute.” What were the motifs then behind backing the imposter