Return Of Martin Guerre Analysis

Starting with the premodern society and moving on to our modern society I will compare and contrast the two societies.

A young woman would marry a man who was usually significantly older than she was. After marriage, women were stuck in a home where the male was the head of the household and made all of the decisions.11 Marital choice did not exist; at least not for women. Woman were forced to marry men that they barely knew, thus even the most intimate details of their lives were decided not by them, but by others. Love was usually not a factor in the marriage equation. Wife-beating was also allowed and men sometimes imprisoned, starved, and humiliated their wives.12

First, some background on what was expected of men at this time. Natalie Zemon Davis describes expectancies of men through a number of instances in Martin Guerre’s life. Men had large roles to fulfill both in their households and in the community. At home, the male was considered the “lord” of the household and was expected to provide for the family. In the article Manhood, Patriarchy, and Gender, Alexandra Shepard illustrates manhood as being in control,

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book "The Return of Martin Guerre" by Natalie Zamon Davis. Specifically, it will discuss the life of the peasant during the Middle Ages. This book is a fascinating account of a true case that happened during the 16th century in France. The book is also an excellent example of how the peasants lived in the Middle Ages, from what they ate, to how they traveled and what their family lives were like.

Women had great social pressure on them to marry. Young girls were often married by the age of 13 or 14 . It was socially unacceptable if women were not married by the age of 25 . Marriage was mostly for economic benefits, not romantic situations. A wedding, rather than a religious ceremony, was a civil contract that set the responsibilities and duties of husband and wife . Once married, they legally became one with their husbands. Married women had no control of their earnings, inheritance, property, and also could not appear in court as a witness nor vote . Their husbands, therefore, were responsible for all aspects of their wife including discipline .

Natalie Zemon Davis’ famous work The Return of Martin Guerre is a story of a man who runs away from his family and home, an imposter comes and takes over his life, and returns only when the imposter is about to be found innocent in trial. Davis’ story has the new Martin Guerre and his new wife Bertrande, work together to invent a marriage between them. The story is about identity, culture and love in 16th century peasant society.

The third account of crisis is found in Natalie Zemon-Davis’ story entitled “The Return of Martin Guerre”. As the title states, this work centers around Martin Guerre, though the primary players include his wife Bertrande and Arnaud du Tilh, Martins’ imposter. With the sudden disappearance of Martin,

Natalie Zemon-Davis’s 1983 book The Return of Martin Guerre provided both the public and academic world with a fresh and interesting take on a classic story. Presented like a mystery thriller, Davis weaves a tale of deception based on a solid framework of cultural history. Her narrative depends on grounding the characters of Bertrande de Rols, Martin Guerre, Arnaud du Tihl, and their associates within a web of social context. Davis draws heavily on the traditional Coras narrative, but also supplements the established story with the version presented in Le Sueur, a new source she discovered. Additionally, she incorporates unusual sources dealing with broader social context and infers specifics from a general study of period interactions. It is this latter approach that historian Robert Finlay disagrees with. He claims that Davis does not appropriately rely on the source material provided by the Coras narrative and thus gives an unnecessarily dramatic version of events. The AHR forum on the subject includes both Finlay’s review and Davis’s response, providing a model of scholarly debate that extends beyond the actual content of the book in question. In addition to being a rhetorical critique, Finlay is attacking the foundational methodology of modern social history that Davis is then compelled to defend.

Well obviously Bertrande and Arnaud du Tilh had intercourse since they conceived a child. “Even that proverb is not uniquely pertinent, for, in the conditions of sexual intercourse in peasant households of preindustrial Europe--the couple clothed, in the darkened house, amid the cold and dirt, surrounded by livestock and relatives—any wife of Artigat might equally well have regarded her bedmate with the jaded perspective expressed in the notorious masculine slur, De nuit tous chats son gris.” (Robert Finlay pg559) I have a difficult time with some of this because if this where all to be true which I’m sure he is exaggerating a little bit I bet a donkey wasn’t sharing the bet with them. I do bet they probably had dirt floors and it probably was a little cold but that doesn’t exclude her from knowing that he was not her husband because every person is different granted she hasn’t been with her real husband in a very long time but I’m pretty sure she would know the touch of a man. I am for sure going to have to agree with Davis on this you get older but your connection as husband and wife doesn’t change that’s what I think Davis is really trying to point out in the book is that as husband and wife even if it where only a few times together they would still remember those the rest of there lives. Finley goes out and says at night all cats are gray meaning that they really would have know idea who one would be with as long as it’s dark you

"Upon marriage, woman became the legal wards of their husbands, as they previously had been of their fathers while still unmarried" (Martin, 68). It was common for a father to sell his young daughter into marriage and the young women had no say in her preference of her suitors (Mahaffy, 48). This was done while the girl was in her young teens while the groom was ten to fifteen years older (Martin, WEB2). As the father, or guardian, gave the young girl away he would repeat the phrase that expressed the primary aim of marriage: "I give you this women for the plowing [procreation] of legitimate children" (Martin, WEB2). The woman’s role was primarily in the home. "Households thus depended on women, whose wok permitted the family to economically self-reliant and the male citizens to participate in the public life of the polis" (Martin, WEB2).

Marriages tended to be for strategic purposes rather than love, so family life in the Elizabethan Era was different than family life today ("Elizabethan Family Life” 1).

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.

On the day of the wedding, female family members would bathe and dress the bride. Either the matchmakers or the oldest female in the family would carry the bride to the groom’s house for the wedding . The couple would receive gifts from their family members and their clothes would be tied together to represent their union. The bride and groom would be lectured on their duties to each other. Women were responsible for obeying, trusting, and taking care of her husband, while the men were told to take care of wife and family before himself. After the wedding ceremony, the matchmaker would guard the newlyweds as they prayed for four days prior to consummating their marriage. Unsurprisingly in this largely patriarchal society, men were permitted to take more than one wife, while women were to remain tied to one husband. Adultery was acceptable for men, while women were executed if they committed adultery

Every marriage has there ups and downs. In fact, there are no such things as a perfect marriage. The subject of marriage and gender roles are usually mentioned in literary pieces that put the emphasis on mostly on the way the family is set up. The following comparative essay will put the emphasis to center on the two fictional stories; 'I'm going' by Bernard Tristan and 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' by James Thurber. The researcher is able to relate to both of the stories on account of the certain dealings that he has had in marriage unions. These two literary pieces are the researcher's preferred choice to talk about the subject of gender roles and marriages. This following two sources of literature puts the emphasis on the marriage that is among Henri and Jeanne also as Mr. and Mrs. Mitty.

In the late 1800’s through early 1900’s women and men were did not “tie the knot” like the women and men do in today’s day. In today’s world, women and men get married because they have many things in common, they are in love with each other, and they choose to get married to one another. In many stories written back then, readers can expect to read about how marriages were arranged and how many people were not having the wedded bliss marriage proclaims today.