Preview

The Return Of Martin Guerre Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
382 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Return Of Martin Guerre Essay
The movie, The Return of Martin Guerre, directed by Daniel Vigne, was based off of a collection of true historical events depicting one small French village’s conflict and strife over the idea that the man posing to be ‘Martin Guerre’ was really someone else. The conflict became something many could not refute, eventually resulting in the main characters and many others traveling to the ‘Parlement of Toulouse’ for the court to decide.
In the film, there is a set of four main characters, featuring Gérard Depardieu as the ‘fake’ Martin Guerre, Nathalie Baye as Bertrande, Maurice Barrier as Uncle Pierre Guerre, and Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu as the original Martin Guerre. In the years before Martin disappeared, we, the viewers, were able to observe
…show more content…
Protestants believed that certain cases of remarrying was not something to be ashamed of, leading many Catholics to loudly disagree with them.
As the plot continues, pre-disappearance, the viewer is able to witness a village tradition known as charivari, the action of hitting on pots and pans, making noise, and disrupting a person’s peace and quiet to display their disapproval. Charivari was typically used to encorage yet-to-be-wed couples to marry faster, or to express their anger at ‘unnatural’ marriages, such as remarriage of a widow, an older man marrying a younger woman, etc. This village tradition proved to clash with the beliefs of the Protestant Huguenots and the village’s Catholic priest.
The tension between the priest and the Huguenots was not an unprovoked event, as the Huguenots were seen disregarding the priest’s religious practices, confidentiality, and beliefs. Although he could not do anything about it, the priest was obviously very upset with this, his resent for the Huguenots showing throughout the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Elizabeth de la Guerre was born in Paris, France on March 1. She was born into a family of skillful Musicians and instrument makers. She died on June 27, 1729 in Paris at the age of 64. She was taught by her father and the king’s mistress Francoise Athenais marquise de montespan to play the harp and organ. She married Marin de La Guerre which they moved to and started giving concert classes at home and all throughout Paris, this is how she became famous. Most of her works have been lost. She is one of the most well known female composers of her time. When she was a teenager she played before the king of France.…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Return of Martin Guerre” by Natalie Zemon Davis provides the read with an interesting case of a present, Arnaud du Tihl, stealing Martin Guerre identity and almost getting away with it. The story create two campus of thought on Bertrande’s motive. One side being defended by Davis, and arguing she masterminded the whole plan. While Robert Finlay arguing she was innocent. Davis argument is the most believable with too many questions and too many assumption, and to neatly package together that points to Bertrande being guilty of helping Amaund du Tihl stealing Guerre identity.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Return of Martin Guerre is a reconstruction of the famous case of Martin Guerre's return to the small town of Artigat in Southern France after being absent for eight years. However, "Martin" is actually an impostor named Arnaud du Tilh, or Pansette. He is accepted by his wife, family, and friends for over three years. After the so-called Martin Guerre has a dispute over family finances and the sale of some land that the family owns and maintains, he is accused by his uncle and father-in-law Pierre Guerre of being an impostor and thief. There are two trials, the first in the regional city of Rieux and the second in Toulouse. “Martin” is found guilty of being an impostor and sentenced to death. "Martin Guerre" appeals the case to the regional Parliament of Toulouse. The judges are close to acquitting “Martin” when the real Martin Guerre, with a wooden leg, shows up. Armand du Tilh is positively identified as an imposter and sentenced to death.…

    • 1621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book "The Return of Martin Guerre" was set in medieval Europe in the 1500's. Its story brings us into the world of pre-modern peasant life and how the people of the time felt and their different views on life. The story itself was about how a husband abandoned his wife and another man came in to resume his life he gave up. Later when Guerre returned, the imposter was sentenced to death.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Warren F. Kimball's novel, Forged in War- Roosevelt, Churchill, and the Second World War, the unique relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. The two created a friendship to lead the Allied powers out of the shadow of the Third Reich. Although the two were not fond of each other in the beginning, the respect that they had for each other was the bond that held them together. Kimball argues the main points on why the world went to war in the 1930's. He proves the theory that an American-Anglo alliance during World War II to be wrong and that it is a false conclusion.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Guerre's Return

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Those who testified claimed that Pansette was not an imposter, until a man walks in claiming to be the real Martin Guerre. Martin’s family, including Bertrande, admits that this man is, in fact, the real Martin. Pansette finally confesses that he is not Martin and learned everything he knew about him through Martin himself. Although Pansette is found guilty, the court frees Bertrande from prosecution as a collaborator. This is because the court holds the real Martin Guerre to be partially responsible for not acting as a true husband. This issue is considered so serious because it is an issue of property. By pretending to be another man, Pansette is taking another man’s wife and stealing his wealth. During the 16th century, crimes against property, such as theft and arson, were punishable by execution (Wahl, “Counter Reformation”…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The setting in All Quiet on the Western Front takes place around the battlefield of the war, mainly the trenches. It was dark, morbid, chaotic and hopeless. Trench life was dreadful according to Paul. There was so much blood, mud and clamor from the blasts and bombs. The constant pounding of those bombs lasted for days, rumbling in those soldiers' ears. Moldy bread was served and was the only source of nutrition, which caused rats to run about, and also the water supply was scarce. It’s not unusual for soldiers to go insanely mad while cramped in those tiny little ditches while all…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the sixteenth century, the role of men and women within society were distinctly determined and demonstrated in France. When it came to marriage, men had to remain faithful to his wife, while women also had to remain faithful to her husband. It was the man’s job to take care of his family and wife by being the provider. It was the woman’s job to keep honor to the family by being loyal wives and attentive mothers. Both the husband and wife were responsible to uphold these roles because divorce was not an option through the eyes of the church. In the sixteenth century, marriages were usually arranged at a very young age for both men and women in order to gain prosperity and property. In the novel The Return of Martin Guerre, Natalie Zemon Davis uses characters such as Bertrande and Martin/Arnaud to represent gender and marriage roles that were common during the sixteenth century in rural…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    But even more than simply outlining the facts of the story, Davis also uses her research to enlighten us on the roles of different family members in 16th Century rural French life, the politics of family life and peasant life in general, and the role of the growing shift from Catholicism to Protestantism among the elite as well as the peasant classes. In relation to family and marriage life, Davis uses Bertrande de Rols, Martin Guerre's wife, as an example of a strong, virtuous woman with familial duty and an obstinate nature. Davis uses this characterization to explain how de Rols was not a weak-minded woman who was so easily duped by her missing husband's impostor, but was rather a woman who was in love and used her strength in order to facilitate her new relationship with Arnaud du Tilh. "Either by explicit or tacit agreement, she helped him become her husband." Bertrande de Rols, according to Davis, is an example of the more broad-minded and less misogynist peasant society of the village of Artigat in 16th Century France. Through Bertrande de Rols, we learn about how surprisingly fair the law was towards women: The testaments in the area around Artigat rarely benefit one child but instead provide dowries for the daughters.... (If there are only daughters, the property is divided equally among them). (11) Another aspect of the book is, it is also a deeper historical chronicle of changes in the shift from French Catholicism to the "new religion" of Protestantism. She uses the new Martin Guerre and Bertrande de Rols entire relationship to characterize the relaxing religious laws that were seeping into courtrooms and the higher classes as well as the fields and the peasant classes. Davis argues that the new religion might have been of interest to the new Martin Guerre and Bertrande de Rols because it supported their illicit relationship…

    • 1456 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Michael Howard’s ‘War and the Liberal Conscience’ is as persuasive a book could be about the necessity of studying war.” How far would you agree with this statement?…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyday there is somebody fighting a war, be it with themselves or with outside forces. Wars can be started over even the smallest things such a jealousy or huge things like the pursuit of freedom. In a Separate Peace by John Knowles, we are shown a theme of war and rivalry. The theme is shown throughout the story in many ways, such as; Lepers was with himself over his insecurities and fears, Finny and Genes constant competition, Genes internal war with his actions, and Brinker Hadley’s internal war that creates the hostility that he pushes onto everyone else.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During The Battle of Algiers, the deliberate emphasis of characters highlights Pontecorvo’s intention to present an objective depiction of the revolt. Throughout the film, both sides of the revolution commit gruesome crimes. Still, the genre to which this movie belongs inherently favors the underdog (in this case, the Algerian FLN forces) over the oppressor (here, the French forces). Yet, Pontecorvo portrays Colonel Mathieu, the head of the French forces, as a just and empathetic character, a depiction that clearly contrasts with the genre’s bias toward the underdog. For example, towards the end of the movie, Colonel Mathieu magnanimously offers Al Pointe the option to surrender, a choice not often provided to…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Remarque opens the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” with an epitaph of “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.” The readers may ask: why the writter says that the book is not an accusation or a confession; how does the person who stands face to face with the war gets destroyed?…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Paradise Now and Then

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Filmmaking features can shape the viewer’s attitude toward specific elements of a film. Music, timing, camera features, setting and much more all influence the viewer’s outlook. The Battle of Algiers and Paradise Now and then both put their perspective on the struggle between two different groups and fighting techniques within the two sides. Each film takes a different approach to connect the viewer to the film.…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Narrative

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As Montag continued to feel melancholy because of Mildred, he became distracted from the real world. Suddenly, Montag sat up, struggling to keep up with the events that were occurring, immediately feeling the presence of somebody there. He turned abruptly towards the area the others would have been, but there was no one there. Then, Montag stood up and looked around him. Montag dropped all of his thoughts on Mildred and was hypnotized by what appeared in front of him. As hundreds of military personnel were focused on him with nuclear rocket launchers, Montag…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays