The Wife of Martin Guerre

The Wife of Martin Guerre (1941), by American author and poet Janet Lewis, follows a stranger who comes to town claiming to be the long-lost husband of a local noblewoman, Bertrande de Rols. The novel is based on the true story of the 16th-century Frenchman Arnaud du Tilh, who fooled an entire town into believing he was Bertrande’s husband, Martin Guerre, for three years. The novel was adapted into a major motion picture in 1982. Its themes include deception, love, loyalty, and betrayal. The novel is narrated in the third person, often from the vantage point of Bertrande. The Wife of Martin Guerre is widely admired by critics for its beautiful prose and humanism.

The novel opens with Bertrande, eleven years old, marrying the nobleman Martin Guerre, then a teenager, in 1539 in the French countryside town of Artigues. Martin doesn’t want to be married, and one of his first acts as her husband is to scratch her face. While her relatives tell Martin to knock it off, Bertrande intuits that Martin and Martin’s father now have complete power over her.

It turns out that Bertrande’s first impressions are all too correct. Martin is an abusive, imperious husband. Through his cutting words and his cruel actions, it’s clear to Bertrande that Martin does not love her. Despite his brutish ways, Bertrande remains loyal to her husband and to her family, as well as devoutly devoted to God. She and Martin have a child.

Martin and his father (who is also a brute) get into a heated argument. Martin says he’s going to take a one-week vacation to relax, forget about the row, and eventually forgive his father. But he never comes back. With Martin gone, the local nobility is on edge. They don’t know if the heir will return alive, and thus their future is uncertain. Martin’s parents die, and Bertrande is forced to raise her children without help.

Then, one day, “Martin” reappears while Bertrande is teaching her youngest son the catechism. It has been eight years since his abrupt departure. He looks enough like Martin that the entire family, including Bertrande, welcomes him back with hugs and tears. Betrande is mostly thankful for his reappearance because she believes his return will make the atmosphere around the manor less angst-ridden.

However, as Bertrande talks to Martin, she senses that something about him is off. For one thing, this new “Martin” is way too nice to her. His shoulders seem wider and his beard is thicker, but it has been so long since Bertrande last saw Martin that she believes (though not entirely) that this is him.

With Martin back, morale around the village skyrockets. Her youngest son is happy to see his father again, and everyone exclaims how wonderful it is that Martin has returned. Martin and Bertrande sleep together, and soon she has a second son.

While confessing to a priest, Bertrande admits she has some uncertainties regarding Martin’s unexpected return. The young man now never loses his temper, and he speaks with consideration toward others. Her husband was never like that, and Bertrande wonders if it’s really possible for anyone to change that much. The priest assures her that Martin just had to grow up in order to step out of that rash behavior typical of young men, especially teenagers.

But Bertrande isn’t comforted. She’s concerned that the person she is now having sex with isn’t her husband; if that’s true, then according to the church she’s surely heading straight to Hell. She asks other friends, including Martin’s sister, if this is the real Martin. They each assure her that he is the real Martin Guerre, and they suggest that she’s letting paranoia get the best of her.

However, Bertrande raises enough doubt as to Martin's identity that the case goes to court. Nearly a hundred people testify, mostly to supply evidence that the returned Martin is the real Martin. During the courtroom proceedings, the actual Martin Guerre returns to town. Though he is haggard from wandering around Europe, all of the villagers instantly recognize him. From that moment, it looks as though the impersonator “Martin” will be executed.

However, the town isn’t one hundred percent certain which man is the true Martin Guerre. They then turn to the one person who has known him intimately: Bertrande. If Bertrande tells the truth, she will remain under the jurisdiction of an awful, abusive man. But if she lies, she believes she will go to Hell. Ultimately, she tells the truth.

True to his irascible character, Martin Guerre blames Bertrande for having allowed the imposter to take his place for the past three years. He says that his reputation will forever be besmirched because she let herself sleep with another man, and has had another child he now has to look after.

The investigation eventually turns up the truth: “Martin” really is a peasant by the name of Arnaud du Tilh. As impersonation was easier to accomplish in the sixteenth century, the crime was also more severe, often execution. Martin Guerre eagerly supports this punishment, but Bertrande is distressed to see anyone executed, especially a man who has shown her great kindness.