Bertrande's Return

After reading The Return of Martin Guerre, it is clear that Natalie Zemon Davis argues that Bertrande is guilty of knowing her imposter husband to be an imposter; however, it is not always wise to be in agreement with the author. Davis’s reasoning for her argument is very logical and worded in such a fashion that it makes it easy to miss the reliability of her argument. When an author does this, it often makes certain moments in a book suspiciously one sided. Some of those moments include: when she discussed the idea of spouses knowing each other, the supposed analysis of Bertrande’s manipulation, and Bertrande’s meet with Martin Guerre in court. The reasons, which will be explained in the following paragraphs, make her arguments only mere …show more content…
Davis, after speculating Bertrande’s knowledge of her new husband, proceeds to claim that “[by] the time she had received him in her bed, she must have realized the difference; as any wife of Artigat would have agreed, there is no mistaking ‘the touch of the man on the woman’” (Davis, pg. 44). This argument from Davis answers how Bertrande knew of Arnaud’s fraud. However, can Davis really argue this with her faulty source and ignorance of the beginning of the story? The source which Davis uses is titled “Les Recherches de la France”, a book that published a century after the resolution of the trial. (Davis, pg. 141) It’s not a primary source regarding Bertrande or the trial. The book pertained the common folks of France; however, Bertrande and Martin had a relationship which was neither intimate nor extraordinary. In the beginning of the book, it was explained that Martin Guerre was impotent for a large portion of his teenage years and that the couple only had one child. That would leave them having very few sexual encounters due to Martin’s twelve year departure. Their relationship as a whole wasn’t clear cut either, and they would often get made fun of by the public. (Davis, pg. ) Davis was wrong in comparing their relationship to a standard couple in Artigat at the time. The …show more content…
Davis makes Bertrande out to be very guilty of knowing her illegitimate husband’s fraud. The possibility of Bertrande actually knowing what happened or not is unclear. This point is made even more unclear by Davis’s interpretations of the story. Davis, by making Bertrande guilty in her interpretation, ultimately makes Bertrande the main character of the story of Martin Guerre as she interprets her the most and questions her actions. As historian though, she should have definitely offered other alternatives which could have been possible. It just shows how messy the story of Martin Guerre is and how it helps to document a lot of interesting trials and life experiences like