The Wife of Martin Guerre Themes

The Wife of Martin Guerre tells the story of the marriage of Bertrande de Rols and Martin Guerre. Betrothed to each other in infancy, Bertrande and Martin do not love each other at first. In fact, neither of them wants to be married at 11 years old: Bertrande is frightened of her strange husband, and Martin is so displeased at being married that he hits Bertrande on their wedding night. As Bertrande grows up…

When Bertrande de Rols starts to suspect that the man who returned to her after an eight-year absence is not the real Martin Guerre, her husband, no one in Artigues believes her. The priest tells Bertrande that she is not thinking clearly—he claims that she has suffered from being left alone so long by her husband and that her pregnancy has made her fragile and confused. By using Bertrande’s pregnancy to explain her apparent…

Based on a famous French trial, The Wife of Martin Guerre tells the story of one man’s deception of an entire village. Martin Guerre, the husband of Bertrande de Rols, leaves the village of Artigues as a young man to escape his father’s punishment. When he returns eight years later, Bertrande instinctively feels that the man is not her husband, but an imposter. At first, she attributes her suspicion to the long separation between her…