Introduction
During the medieval times, people led different kinds of lives. Most people were peasants and this explains why martin Guerre was also a peasant. Martin flees from his wife after being accused of stealing grain from his father. After fleeing, he joins an army in Spain where after fighting for some time he gets his leg injured. His leg undergoes amputation so that he begins to live with a wooden leg. Due to the nature of life during this particular time, people flee from their societies in order to avoid sentences against their mistakes. Under the Roman Catholic requirements, it is not allowed for a woman left by her fleeing husband to remarry. The roam Catholics consider this move as adultery, which is greatly discouraged. This paper discusses the position of Bertrand with regard to understanding whether the imposter was not her real husband.
Discussion
Notably, Bertrand did know that pansette was not her real husband. This clearly implies that she was a willing accomplice in the imposture. Naturally, any woman would definitely recognize her husband. Regardless of the length of period, the two have lived with each other. There are distinct attributes that each one of them learns about the other in the time that they live together . Without doubt, it is quite easy for a woman to recognize the husband when they get intimate after having separated for long. This implies that even during their first encounter after coming together, Bertrand would have noticed that the imposter indeed performed different activities differently from the husband. For instance, in satisfying their conjugal rights, every a woman knows how her husband conducts himself while in bed. She could not have been ignorant as not to notice a difference. Evidently, she plays a trickster in this case in order to have a man in her house that she can trust and associate with because her husband forsook her.
Bertrand knew that Amaud du Tilh was not the real. This is the reason as to why works actively to constructed an invented marriage. Bertrand defends Pansette in the case whereby she says that this was her husband. There must have been a different between the imposter and the real martin Guerre, Davis says, “nothing happened in Bertrand’s marriage bed, it seemed, neither that nor for more than eight years afterward. Martin guerre was impotent; the couple had been “cast under a spell” . This is a clear indication that Bertrand must have noticed the difference in the imposter with regard to this. She must have known that her husband was impotent and that her ability to participate in sexual intercourse was quite limited. Therefore, she must have lived with the imposter with this knowledge because the imposter and the real martin are not indicated to have been both impotent. Martin guerre had troubles consummating his marriage. Davis notes that, “it may never have crossed Sanxi Guerres mind that his son would have trouble consummating the marriage” This implies that during the time martin lived with his wife, there must have been certain troubles experiences that did not necessarily occur once the imposter came into to the life of Bertrand. This would have enabled her to notice the differences in the way of life of Amaud.
Married to Amaud the imposter, both must have engaged in to sexual intercourse. She must have felt a difference in the manhood of the imposter compared to that of the real husband.Truly, Amaud was cunning in his ways. He was able to convince the guerre’s family that he was the real martin Guerre. It is possible that the members of the family could not make out any physical difference between the imposter and the real martin. However, this would not be hidden to Bertrand for so long as a few days. This clearly indicates that she was only working actively to construct this invented marriage . She does not reveal to martin’s brother about the identity of the imposter after noticing that he was quite different. This clearly indicates that she covered him so that they would not comprehend his identity. This is probably because she wanted to avoid the loneliness she experienced after her husband fled and left her desperate.
It is true that she did not know if her husband would ever return to her. If she knew, she did not know how long it would be before he could show up. In the meantime, she would have needed a cover in order to be comfortable. This clearly explains why she was reluctant to reveal that the man, Amaud, was not the real martin as he claimed to the others. When the real husband returns, he plainly refuses to accept the apology of his wife claiming that she should have been careful not to allow the man into her life . This is due to the fact that real martin knew that as his wife, she could recognize him without difficult, still, she could recognize an imposter without difficulty. This is the reason as to why he does not accept her apologies.
Some of the Quotes
“It may never have crossed Sanxi Guerres mind that his son would have trouble consummating the marriage.”
“Nothing happened in Bertrand’s marriage bed, it seemed, neither that nor for more than eight years afterward. Martin guerre was impotent; the couple had been “cast under a spell.”
Work cited
Davis, Natalie. Zemon. The Return of Martin Guerre. New York: Harvard University Press, 1984.
